As long as Linux continues as open source and follows the GNU. Mac will have no impact on it. Mac and it's various OSX's are headed down the same road as MS if they are not carefull. Look at the old Bell telephone. They were split up and now Sprint has replaced them and is almost in the same shape. So if MS fails, Mac will step up to the plate and here we go again. Mac is going the same way as MS. They are beginning to intragrate everything in their OS just as MS did. As with Linux, thats a different story. You can pick your build, choose your own windows manager if you wish, install what you want and browse with an almost infinite choice of browsers. Some may have dependancies to run. But, basicaly you can choose what you want to run and what you don't. Can you do this with MS or MAC. No. So as long as you are free to choose with Linux. It will always have its own niche. Lets just hope it stays this way.