The real reason consultants use Microsoft SBS over Linux

By David M Williams
Saturday, 13 September 2008 08:03

Opinion and Analysis

I’m going to repeat my contention that standard editions of Windows Server and Microsoft Exchange are much more useful and scalable than SBS. I don’t think any sensible person could deny this.

So why use SBS? The reason I’ve given previously is price. The small business client has a budget. The full suite of Windows server products is expensive. This is why a cut-price – but reduced-functionality – version exists.

But why suffer that reduced functionality? You could instead chop out the entire cost of the software with free open source equivalents.

Ultimately, then, it’s not really about price. There’s something deeper at heart. It’s the quality of the consultants themselves.

I argued last time that the consultants don’t know better. They don’t have experience with the larger range of Windows products – let alone Linux equivalents.

It could be argued that a sole trader can’t be expected to pony up the funds for, say, an Exchange 2007 license just so they can get familiar with it, but this doesn’t take into account sandbox virtual machines that Microsoft provide for testing and evaluation.

Nor does it take into effect the peanuts price of the Action Pack that anyone can buy if they register for free as a partner. Best of all, the Action Pack gives you a license for production use not just evaluation.

I’m going to go further; this is the same reason why commercial developers implement solutions in Microsoft Access. It’s not because they’ve got the client’s best interests at heart, it’s because the consultant themself doesn’t know any better nor have the experience to produce something more robust and scalable.

You don’t have to take my words for it. An SBS consultant – a Microsoft Valued Professional (MVP) in the product no less – has this to say:

“There’s firms like mine that want to stay in the sweet spot of seat size of SBS. We pass on mergers. We don’t want to grow big.”

Yes, according to the so-called SBS Diva the reason a lot of consultants recommend SBS is because they, themselves, are content with being small. They don’t want to know more. They don’t want to grow their own business. They don't want to grow with the client's business. They don’t want to do the hard work. SBS suits them. To hell with the client’s needs.

Stay tuned; on Thursday I’ll tell you some Linux small business and groupware equivalents proving that Linux can provide all that SBS does, and so much more, at a price Microsoft cannot beat.