2006 is the year that once again stated Microsoft's supremacy over Linux. Although Windows Vista suffered numerous delays, the Linux based operating system did not succeed in attracting consumer's preferences and/ or shifting them from using XP to open-source solutions.

Bill Hilf, general manager of competitive strategy at Microsoft claims that Linux posses no threat at all for Windows as desktop operating systems are concerned, and that it also losses ground on the server operating systems market in what will yet again prove to be not a Linux year.

"The desktop is a very complicated scenario. It's not a Red Hat or IBM problem. It's a model issue. The loosely coupled model of development prevents Linux from being successful on the desktop", said Bill Milf. He considers that, although superficially, Linux can be considered a Windows competitor, the reality of it brings to the table complex aspects that start with commercial software being vastly superior to open-source solutions.

Hilf also commented on Windows' less drastic comparison to open-source server and desktop operating systems from Novell and Red Hat. He pointed out that with open-source technology the end-user is also the beta tester and provider of feed-back and that does not do good in promoting such software.

"The magic of open-source software is not the software. It has nothing to do with the code at all. Most open-source code is terribly inferior to commercial software code," Hilf concluded. "The magic is the community and how you interact and participate in a community and make development transparent enough that the community believes in you and trusts you."