Comments

• Google

  2008-05-04 05:58:46

  Microsoft having 25% in apple ??
  
  LOL !!!

• Roy Schestowitz

  2008-05-04 06:20:07

  Yes, and it's not necessarily a good thing. As a shareholder it can have impact on the company's strategic decisions. It can encourage the use of OOXML in Apple products for example, And do don't think it doesn't happen.
  
  http://boycottnovell.com/2008/04/09/microsoft-dirty-fight-vs-odf/ http://boycottnovell.com/2007/12/17/font-patent-deals-and-ooxml/ http://boycottnovell.com/2007/11/30/novell-apple-deal-similarity
  
  Novell and Apple actually have a lot in common as far as their relationship with Microsoft is concerned. Remember that Microsoft does not mind using Apple to knock off its #1 rival, which is Free software (mainly the GPL), by it very own and recent admission. It calls it "Linux" and tries to separate "open source" from the rest (Ah! The power of words).
  
  Be aware that Apple/Mac users are a source of revenue to Microsoft (patent deals/cross-licensing, Microsoft Office for Mac, etc.), unlike GNU/Linux.
  
  Microsoft is also afraid of Google, to which GNU is an important enabler. The same goes for IBM which strategises like this (also, increasingly, Sun, Oracle and others).

• LinuxIsFun

  2008-05-04 11:20:11

  How much of Google / Redhat is owned by Microsoft ?

• Roy Schestowitz

  2008-05-04 13:08:38

  None as far as I know, but some former Microsoft employees land in Google, which might lead to problems in the future (it already proves to be troubling, based on what Schmidt said last year).