A so-called corporate hegemon is only as good as its ubiquity:
Three North Asian countries are closer to signing a deal to co-develop an open source operating system to replace Windows, according to the Japan news daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun.The agreement is likely to be announced this week by Japanese Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma at an economic ministers' meeting in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, said the report, quoting unnamed sources.
...All three countries involved already have thriving Linux software developer communities, especially in embedded Linux, the small-footprint operating system used in devices such as set-top boxes and industrial machines.
This is no surprise, given a recent Japanese flirtation with tycoon dark horse Michael Robertson and his OS upstart, Lindows. Nobody needs to kill Microsoft; just provide it with some competition. Consumers, as usual, would then be the victors.