Leader: Linux vs Windows - is the battle over?

Remember the Battle of the Desktop?

A few years ago excitement began to grow - could Windows at last have a strong competitor in the shape of open source Linux?

Predictions were issued for the end of Windows dominance and the downfall of Microsoft as users flocked to the free operating system.

But these days the debate sounds much more sober. Linux will not kill Windows, it will exist alongside it. The open source OS is suited for some tasks, not all. And it's hardly free - even if you don't pay for the software, which many do, support costs can be considerable.

Today silicon.com's CIO Jury issued its own verdict - Linux on the desktop is dead. The panel of IT chiefs said there are too many flavours of Linux to encourage the development of the necessary desktop applications and tools - and on the desktop the OS is just as complex if not more so than its rival Windows.

Though Linux has had success in the server room - with even Oracle providing support for Red Hat Linux - it has never taken hold on workplace desktops. And it appears it never will.

It's too bad. With so much dissatisfaction around Windows, businesses deserve a better option. One CIO Juror posited Mac OS X has a better chance of dominating the desktop than Linux - but given the low penetration of Macs in offices and homes, this seems another long shot.

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Still, Microsoft is getting some competition - not from a rival software package but from a whole new model for software delivery. Software as a service promises to shake up Redmond - and the rest of the traditional software world - by doing away with packaged software and instead providing services over the network on an on-demand basis.

This could change the whole way we think about the desktop - not as a static operating system and set of applications but as a conduit for a variety of services which are available when we need them.

The concept could be even more threatening to Microsoft than a free desktop OS.