In the States, Wal-Mart (have begun selling a $200 Linux machine - which sold out in most stores within minutes! And by all accounts, the product is meeting and exceeding all expectations (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=7754614).

Chuck in the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which is of course also a Linux based system, and the new Leopard offering from Apple, and there is got to be some worried people up there in Richmond.

And who can forget all of the bad press that Vista seems to be getting since its release - with someone suggesting that their Linux setup supported more hardware than their Vista setup!!

So it's not all rosy and peaches for Microsoft, but I'm sure they will still continue to make billions from their proprietary Office software that seems to be ubiquitous in corporate and government organisations. Oh, hang on a minute, didn't they just try and push through a "Standard" for their Office products (OOXML) and fail? Surely this won't affect business too badly, as so many of the worlds offices are tied to this platform?

Actually I'm led to believe that a lot of Government organisations around the world are looking to publish content *ONLY* in open formats as a public policy issue.

Another small point that may put a dent in Microsoft's coffers!

I'm sure it's not all doom and gloom for Microsoft - but if I worked for them, i'd certainly be a bit worried.