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Technology news and Jobs arrow The Linux distillery arrow Why Microsoft will dump their anti-Linux rhetoric
Why Microsoft will dump their anti-Linux rhetoric PDF Print E-mail
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by David M Williams   
Thursday, 01 May 2008
I've been combing through Microsoft’s “get the facts” web site this last fortnight. Here Microsoft promise to reveal the “facts” on Windows vs Linux solutions. They cite company after company that abandoned Linux because it was slow and unreliable and generally hopeless, but opted for Microsoft servers and found unsurpassed profits, efficiency and general happiness. Yet, the headlines have little relevance to the case study. Microsoft’s PR department are insulting their audience. They are lacking in integrity. It’s time for the site to be pulled down. Here’s why.
I’ve critiqued just two of these case studies over the last fortnight from “get the facts” (www.Microsoft.com/getthefacts.) The first was on Video Ezy, a prominent Australian movie rental business. Microsoft’s sound bite pledged a head to head comparison between the two opposing operating system and ideology camps. Anyone who merely read the headline and précis would be duped into believing such a comparison actually took place and that, after reasoned arguments and debate, Microsoft’s offering was recognised as the logical and technical winner.

No such event happened. If you take the time to read the case study you see this plainly. We read that Video Ezy were keen to keep costs down to reduce financial burden on its franchisees. Consequently, interest grew in exploring an open source route. However a team member swayed opinion by explaining they’d previously had a bad experience with Linux. And that was the end of that. The case study is explicit that this happened; I am not reading my own imaginations into it.

In a nutshell, the bad previous experience was purely that a company running a standard Windows operating environment acquired a new business which ran Linux. By rolling out the standard environment cost savings and efficiency gains were achieved because the one set of administrative processes covered all divisions of the business, rather than having a special case in one area. To my mind that’s not a “bad experience” and nor is it Linux specific; it’s simply a lesson that having a unified platform can decrease systems administration work.

It’s possible someone could turn around and say my critique of the case study doesn’t really reflect what happened. They could say that they were there and in reality huge debate and evaluation really did take place.

Yet, that’s not what the case study says. It leaves no doubt whatsoever that the whole reason Linux was dumped as a possibility was because a team member said they’d previously had bad experiences. End of story.

If I was wrong, then the case study was wrong. In which case Microsoft ought to pull it down. If the case study is right, then I’m right and it fails outright in “proving” Windows served this organisation better than any Linux option – in which case, Microsoft ought to pull it down.

I’m not criticising Video Ezy by any means. But as a case study why businesses should choose a Windows platform over a Linux one it stinks. It fails to impress. It is completely devoid of genuine argument or anecdotal experience. The headline and the promise given are purely works of fiction and fanciful imaginations and are not backed up by the content of the case study whatsoever.

Was this a one off? And what am I going to do about it? Please read on!

CONTINUED







 
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