Some signs are pretty clear : Dell, IBM and HP are now selling computers with Linux as default operating system. That's a radical twist. If Linux has been proposed on servers for years, to propose it on Desktops or Laptops is totally new.

The main distributions which are proposed are : Redhat, Suse, Ubuntu, and Redflag in Asia.

That new event shows that Linux (with its community) has finally reached the maturity to be easy to use for the end user. One point is that the brands will make more profit with Linux because what can be seen is that the pricing difference between a computer sold with windows and one sold with Linux is ridiculous. But the end users will save money also because it's not necessary to buy the office suite. That's a huge economy.

I don't see how the major software editor like autodesk or adobe will continue to propose their softwares only for MS platform. At a moment the availability of professional softwares will decide the operating system. Virtualisation can't be a realistic solution for 3D rendering in a virtual machine. Also those who are needing those specific softwares are few. Most of peoples need multimedia functions, Office tools, Mail client and web browser. And those needs are totally satisfied with Linux systems.