David Legard

(IDG News Service) — Microsoft Corp. has confirmed it sees the open-source software movement as a threat to its commercial business model, in a quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The statement, which first appeared in Microsoft's annual report on its 2002 fiscal-year operations, amplifies comments by Microsoft Chief Financial Officer John Connors recently about the threat of Linux to Microsoft's server business. "The popularization of the open source movement continues to pose a significant challenge to the company's business model," Microsoft wrote in its recent filing. "(This is) including recent efforts by proponents of the Open Source model to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of Open Source software in their purchase and deployment of software products." Microsoft said it may have to reduce the ... (more)