Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin has decided that he has won the war against Microsoft and his sending his troops home. 

In a somewhat strange interview with Network World, Zemlin claims that Linux has wiped Microsoft off the map on everywhere other than the desktop.

Linux has outpaced Microsoft in nearly every market, including server-side computing and mobile, Zemlin claims.

He said that he didn’t care about Microsoft these days. It used to be Linux’s big rival, but now it’s kind of like kicking a puppy.

Zemlin pointed out that while Microsoft’s stock has stagnated over the past decade, Red Hat has soared, Zemlin notes. “Linux software is everywhere, and is something that runs 70 percent of global equity trading, something that powers, really, the majority of internet traffic, whether it’s Facebook, Google or Amazon.”

He said that Linux can be found in consumer electronics devices, like Sony televisions and camcorders, the Amazon Kindle, and in smartphones and tablets as part of Google’s Android. Linux leads the market from the tiniest embedded systems to the largest supercomputers, with more than 90 percent of the Top 500 supercomputing sites in the world running Linux, it is boasted.

The only place where Windows dominates is the desktop where it has 90 percent of the market.

But Zemlin said that the “the good news is the traditional PC desktop is becoming less important”.  They are being replaced by gear like smartphones and tablets where Linux is very strong, he said.

The mobile market is being powered by the Linux based Android. A new contender might be HP’s webOS which also uses Linux.

Zemlin admits that there are still a few problems for Linux to deal with. Patent lawsuits and legal uncertainty might prevent some people from adopting open source. Then there is the question as to why Linux could never build desktop share.

Zemlin blames anti competitive action from the Vole, but it is more likely that open source developers could not hide their contempt for non-technical users long enough to develop something worthwhile.