October 22, 2009

Apple and Linux advocate IBM both tried hard to cramp Microsoft's style this week before the Windows 7 rollout even got under way. On Tuesday, Apple launched a new iMac, MacBook, and Mac Mini line, while IBM joined with Linux distributor Canonical to introduce a new "cloud-and-Linux-based" offering called IBM Client for Smart Work.

“A week earlier, Apple had taken the wraps off an anti-Windows 7 ad campaign that will focus on upgrade hassles from Windows XP to 7 and also position Mac OS as less prone to viruses.

Apple's negative marketing blitz will coincide with the official availability of Windows 7. Moreover, IBM is making no bones about its timing. Neither is Canonical, a vendor that also plans to release the next edition of its desktop Linux OS, 9.10, on October 29, "one week after Windows 7," according to an e-mail from a company rep.

"Ubuntu gives users a functionally equivalent alternative that looks great, runs the Web great, and won't cost [a] dime to upgrade the software," contended the Canonical rep. For its part, Microsoft's own timing hasn't been exactly perfect lately. With Microsoft set to talk up its latest desktop security features at the Windows 7 event on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admitted to Network World last week that Microsoft's recent Sidekick data loss episode was "not good."

But will the efforts of Apple, IBM and Canonical make much, if any, impact on Windows 7 sales? Research from some analysts suggests strong adoption on the business side, in any case. Some two-thirds of IT decision-makers in North American and European enterprises and SMBs plan to migrate to Windows 7 eventually, with 51 percent saying that Windows 7 will be the primary OS on their PCs within 12 months, according to a recent report by Forrester Research.

Source:- http://www.pcworld.com