A New Era of Operating System Competition Dawns

Microsoft is out with Windows 8 this week, and the operating system–which straddles standard Windows interface conventions and touchscreen-style conventions–is being described as the company’s biggest gamble in years. That seems like an apt thing to call the new OS, since Microsoft has a tough sell in convincing users that they need new versions of Windows. But many analysts are taking a step back and noting that there is, in fact, a brand new era of operating system competition dawning. In this new era, open source operating systems are poised for dramatic success.
Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation, has a piece of analysis on this topic on Linux.com, where he writes:
"Microsoft is stuck in the liminal space between the desktop-driven, cost per software license world they dominated and the era we are just now entering: a world driven by open source software and services. They clearly understood that the personal computing industry was shifting toward portability, and with Windows 8 created a hybrid OS for desktops, tablets and phones. Good that they are keeping up with the times, but perhaps bad to apply a

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