Mike Petitjean has been a dedicated Microsoft user for more than a decade, but now the software developer says he’s so fed up with the high prices and unreliable systems that he’s switching to Linux.

Linux’s popularity with programmers has already managed to make a huge dent on the market share of rival software Unix and now it’s gradually threatening to do the same with Microsoft’s dominance of the business software market.

“Windows is a lousy platform,” said Petitjean, who was attending the LinuxWorld show in New York last week.  “It’s just not reliable enough.”