First of all let me say. It is not just the money that makes the difference! Yes it is a major player in the IT world. But there are other factors that need to be considered.

These two manufactures are competitors! Microsloth has aimed its market for people who do not have the time, effort, and intellengence to learn how computers work. They have made things easy, that is the ONLY benifit MS has over ANY other O/S out there. Trust me, I lost count of all the O/S's I have worked with.And on the other hand Linux has not accomplished anything new. Besides getting more attention then any other "FREE" open source platforms in the history of the computer! (If you paid for it, take it back its not for you.) They (the dedicated geeks who write code) have given people the chance to do what they want with computer technology. The price however is time, not cash! And please keep in mind. Linux and all of its family have been developed by volunteers for the most part. Bill pays topdollor for his smart people to keep dumb people dumb, so he can continue to make profit out of his market.

To sum up, Linux is for intelligent people. MS is for one or all of the following, rich, lazy, unintelligent folk. But dont get me wrong I run a couple MS Platforms and always will. But only for ease and compatibilty with all of the Gates Goat's.

P.S. in retort to the article that got us all here. If you cant make Linux secure, you are probably to dumb to have a ligitimate need to run it or any other non MS Platform, go be a goat. And further, Microsoft is never going to release a open source platform or give us something for free! Linux users and admin have nothing to fear, we arent going anywhere. Execpt to get the occasionalpatches from the kind people who combat the sadistic hackers out there for us. No matter what O/S you happen to be running.