Tony Mobily’s recent FSM post A future without Microsoft and the resulting comments have caused me to consider the way we use numbers to argue for free software in the marketplace. I’m not convinced that it’s the best strategy because those waters are particularly muddy when it comes to comparing free and proprietary software.

The Canonical OEM team has been approached by a number of OEM’s who want to sell netbooks (small, low-cost laptops with an emphasis on the web) based on Ubuntu. Almost universally, they’ve asked for standard Ubuntu packages and updates, with an app launcher that’s more suited to new users and has the feeling of a “device” more than a PC.

Many of us have been saying for a long time that Microsoft's Windows product would be better if the company open sourced it. But today marks the first day that the Wall Street Journal has chimed in to second the motion:

Xen seems to be moving further and further in Microsoft's direction, unsurprisingly.

What is that I say, a win for Linux? Look now that all the nay-sayers, pundits, and critics have had a chance to chime in lets look at the big picture. The openssh vulnerability is not something to take lightly and I’m not it’s just I think allot of noise was made for something I think was handled much better than any Microsoft vulnerability ever has.

Why is this part titled "The Black Hand"? Well, because I started this series using a nations metaphor. Citizens of Windows who expatriate and immigrate to Linux will be "foreigners" in Linux.

I assure you, this situation is far, far graver than any of the rest of you seem to know. As much guesswork as it is figuring out who runs what, I'm going to take this recent Ars Technica article and give both Apple and Linux the benefit of the doubt. I'll hedge their numbers up to 4% desktop market share for Apple, and 2% for Linux. That leaves Windows at a mere 94%.