I just found an article here that states that microsoft plans to come out with smaller, roll based versions of longhorn after their server release around 2007.

Their idea is that people like linux because you can reprogram the kernel and add things you want and remove things you dont want to suit your specific needs. Microsoft decided to sell multiple versions to suit your needs at a lower cost than a full version. I am having a hard time figuring out what good this will do. I know that less code may make it harder for a hacker to crack it, but I dont see why a business will want to buy five different versions of windows for what they need.

For example, they may need longhorn pro for computers that need to use cad or programming, then there is going to be a server version of longhorn to put them all together, then, according to the article, there is going to be a web server version, then storage, file and print serving versions.

Wont this in the long run cost more? Make more confusion? And how is this supposed to kill linux?

input?