Only one issue
"quality commercial OS platforms"
I still can't say that with a straight face...well at least not with up to server03. And yes, I do support Windows servers too. I didn't set them up, but I am stuck with occasional support of them. I actually serve many customers, including heavy use customers processing tons of data running RHEL where the very idea of putting server03 in the datacenter trying to process these loads would make everyone at the company cry.
I'm not a Microsoft hater. But it's a desktop OS.
That said, I agree with generally. However, the issue is a larger one for many "geeks." Commoditization of technology is putting many of us out of business. It's much like people preferring cheap plastic spoons and forks over, say, quality silverware. The market might say, to heck with it, I just need something to eat with.
I'm no longer a white-box guy. There's no market for it, and that's the issue. The market that MIGHT exist for it simply doesn't pay the bills.
"Linux", on the other hand, is in datacenters worldwide. You can trust me on that. Now, it's not because the "keepers of the open-source flame" are doing such a great job. It's there because it is flexible and stable. It's there because unix, which "linux" is a rewrite of, was a solid multitasking, multithreading OS from the beginning. And it's there because so much of the software that runs the Internet is unix/linux based. Unix and Linux definitely scale....much much better than any proprietary solutions.
I don't think MS is in any danger of losing it's dominance, but I don't see scaleability as the driving factor. I see marketing and familiarity as the driving factors.
