The internet as we know it would be a very different place without Linux. (only one site, inet://microsoft)
Not really. If Linux had never appeared, most servers would be using Unix, BSD or Solaris. Windows would
NOT be a consideration for most people looking for an alternative for Windows. You need to remember the internet predates Windows by a LONG time. I have been online since 1980 (ironically when instant messaging first appeared). Trust me, we were NOT using Windows and we were not using Linux.
Had Linus never came along and brought division and conflict to the open source community by fragmenting it into irrelevancy, non-Windows OSes would have a much larger market share than what they do today. Linus instead, through his arrogance and naivety, resorted to the age old PsyOp tactic of divide and conquer. Unfortunately, that is a tactic that never leads to dominance, it only leads to a Charlie Foxtrot, which is what Linux inarguably is now. And I am saying this as somebody who likes Linux, although my main reason for using it is economical. I simply can't afford to buy Windows anymore. And with the way Windows has moved, I don't really like the looks of it anymore. If I was going to BUY an OS, I would probably have to move to OSX.