PC makers are free. They need Microsoft less and less. The more Microsoft behaves in ways that puts its own interests ahead of the customer and partner, the more motivated the entire market is to put its resources into Linux and the open-source movement.

Dangling XP as a carrot is a futile gesture, too. The so-called popularity of XP has less to do with how great XP is (or Windows in general for that matter) and more to do with a backlash from users who are angered by an operating system too loaded down with gadgets that it grabs an unnecessary measure of resources and/or performs poorly. Those PC makers interested in the ULPCs market would also be just as likely to be interested in desktop Linux and the cost benefits of the open source applications available for it. (Would a customer who only spent $300 on the PC want to spend $100 - $150 on Office productivity software for it, for instance? Or would that customer prefer pre-loaded freeware like OpenOffice.org?)

Microsoft needs to put less energy into manipulating situations to protect its turf and more energy into improving its products and services in ways that benefit the user.

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