Richard Schwalb has penned an interesting read on his take on the future of the computer market. He predicts that within 5-10 years Linux will have 20%-ish of the desktop market. Not a huge number, but interesting nevertheless.

Sometimes we (meaning North Americans) forget that there’s an entire planet with different cultures, different government styles, and different economies out there. We tend to forget that $150 for a copy of Windows XP Home represents an entire year’s salary for some of the world’s population. These are the markets where MS products aren’t likely to be seriously considered. Enter Linux:

Now, take a moment to think about all those poorer nations, and how they can best become ever more competitive in an increasingly technological world. If the Chinese government wanted to obtain a Linux distro, from Red Hat or SUSE, all they would need to do is buy the $54 Upgrade version of SUSE 9.3 (or, for $99 they could get the full version with the printed manual). Then, as long as they never see any money from this, distribute copies to their entire population. Every man, woman and child. Over a billion people. And they would never violate the license.

Link to entire article.

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