So, Bill Gates is threatening to withdraw Windows from sale if US courts impose restrictions on it. Should the world be worried, or is it a sign that Gates realises that the world is changing?

After all, let us not forget that this is the man who indicated years ago that he would ultimately give Microsoft away, presumably because he foresaw it would not be worth much at some point in the future.

If the case does go against him, and he is as good as his word, then I doubt whether firms will worry too much. For a start, Linux is coming up fast and gaining serious support.

Coupled to that is the fact that work is continuing apace to create Linux environments that can run existing Windows applications.

If Microsoft not only stopped selling but also stopped supporting Windows, I suspect it would be on difficult legal ground if it tried to stop anyone else doing so. And there are now more than enough certified Microsoft support people who would relish such an ongoing business opportunity.

Given the pace at which Microsoft is upgrading Windows while many firms are still wondering whether to move on from NT 4.0, I suspect that many of them would enjoy the opportunity to stand still and take stock.

There is ample capability in Windows 2000 and XP to keep most users happy for a good while yet. And with a potential army of certified engineers to help sort out problems and fix security holes, it could keep going for ages without anyone feeling any serious limitations.

Indeed, it could end up with a reputation for being reliable, secure and suitable for day-to-day business applications, a bit like old mainframes and Vax systems.

What's more, by the time any serious limitations eventually come to light, corporates are likely to have a number of options to overcome them.

One of these, according to Michel Teyssedre, vice president of strategic business development at IBM's eServer division, will be grid computing. Grid computing pools online resources and makes them available 'on tap'.

Teyssedre maintains that firms are already developing what he calls "intra-grids", which exploit resources on the network within the boundaries of a single company.

This in itself liberates significant processing power. Teyssedre explained that the next step, "extra-grids" linking firms, are already being considered seriously by a few companies.

He believes that grid technologies could change the way IT resources are accessed.

Grids might help customers, rather than suppliers, to drive more projects, bringing together teams with specific skill sets, backed by IT resources hired for the duration, perhaps creating virtual organisations. This would probably create a niche for IT resource brokerage services.

In such a future, the technologies would need to be very open, and Windows applications would have to become far more open in order to survive on the grid.