"Microsoft Corp.'s effort to become the dominant software provider for consumer electronics just hit a bump.
"Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and six other overseas tech giants are banding together to promote the development of a competing software, Linux, for devices like cell phones, DVD players and other gadgets. Hitachi Ltd., NEC Corp., Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Sharp Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are the other companies...
"'This is a huge deal to Microsoft,' Eric Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative, an agency that promotes the use of Linux, said. 'Margins on these devices are so thin that (these companies) can't afford proprietary software licenses any more...'"
