The Linux desktop: boom or bust?

Ironically for Microsoft, Vista is just the shot in the arm that desktop systems with open-source Linux operating systems needed to boost their sales.

For three consecutive months, data that CRN has collected from readers selling open source and Linux solutions has shown consistent expectations of large sales increases in the immediate future, while follow-up data reveals sales, on average, falling far short of expectations.

But sales have been slow for Vista, too, even by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's own admission. That and yesterday's announcement that investment firm Goldman Sachs removed Microsoft from its elite list of "Americas Conviction Buy" stocks largely because of its belief that "Vista may be the last big operating system developed by the company" certainly help to raise expectations that end users will seek alternatives.