I think it is funny how people get caught up in the politics of the OS wars. So far, this article is one of the best examples of how some people just take things way too seriously. The part about Ballmer and Red Hat made me smile right away.

So I’ve got this theory. I believe I’ve mentioned it here before. The theory holds that Microsoft’s (Profile, Products, Articles) stranglehol- …er, um, dominance in the corporate desktop OS market is largely due to Office and its market share.

This sprang to mind the other day as I was waiting in line at the local Starbucks for my beat-me-with-a-stick $4 cup of coffee. Next to me was a surly fellow working feverishly on a Sony (Profile, Products, Articles) Vaio notebook. This notebook had a number of Sun Solaris logos plastered to its cover. Turns out he was an “OS Ambassador” for Sun and was putting the finishing touches on a presentation about the flexibility and advantages of Solaris.

Being an unscrupulous journalist, I simply had to glance at the screen to see whether he was actually running Solaris. And he was working in Windows XP, using PowerPoint. Of course, he had the air of a marketing guy, and getting one of those folks to let go of PowerPoint in favor of OpenOffice probably requires a handgun and electrified body clamps. [Read the rest]