David M Williams
Wednesday, 31 December 2008 12:23
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 6
The war against Microsoft’s war against Linux
I hit out at Microsoft. Hey, it’s the elephant in the room. It’s hard to talk about the advantages of an operating system – and a philosophy of how things ought to work – without discussing the alternative. After all, can you define the word “the” without using the word “the” itself?
Actually, finding ammunition wasn’t hard. I merely turned to the Redmond juggernaut’s own “get the facts” web site which falsely purported to deliver a richness of Linux and Microsoft Windows comparisons.
Yet, these case studies were farcical. I went into detail and I believe my analyses were rational and logical, based on the decisions and objectives of a real-world CIO.
To begin, well-known Australian entertainment franchise operation Video Ezy had been touted by Microsoft as a successful implementation of Small Business Server (SBS.) What the hey? Video Ezy have over 560 individual, physically separate stores!
Still, it was all moot. Read
the case study for yourself and it was abundantly evident the whole reason Linux was dropped from consideration was because one person had a bad experience where, in a previous job, his company acquired a firm that used Linux servers and it didn’t fit in with the standard operating platform. No surprise, hardly a Linux “failing” and certainly not the basis for the strong comparison Microsoft would have wanted you to believe.
As I read more of these case studies the angrier I got. Next I looked at
HiChina Web solutions who moved from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008. Oh, they had a couple of Linux boxes somewhere. But fundamentally, the case study was nothing to do with Linux and again the choice of operating system was not made due to an honest-to-goodness “which platform serves our needs best” comparison.
I claimed a scalp here. Not long after my story hit the Internet HiChina’s case study was pulled from Microsoft’s web site – or, at least, the link on the list of case studies. Both myself and some readers noted it was still accessible by direct link. After we posted that the direct link went too. I guess HiChina weren’t impressed.
The disappointing thing is Microsoft could have still used that case study – but to show why its existing customer base would benefit from upgrading. It was totally and utterly filed in the wrong category by someone at Microsoft, trying to pitch an anti-Linux argument where there just wasn’t one in the story.
I complained to Microsoft about the lack of integrity in the “get the facts” site. While at it, I pointed out Microsoft’s two latest case studies also were lacking in newsworthiness. For instance, one case study said SGI were now making Windows versions of their systems. This wasn’t a big deal; if you read the story SGI said they have sold, and will continue to sell, high-performance Linux systems but they want to tap into another market too. No triumph there, frankly.
I asked them again while pointing out the latest case study – the City of Uppsala – again had no teeth. This time, the story went the city maintained two large networks. One was for the government admin and operated on Windows. The second was a school network which had a mix of Windows, Linux and Novell. Uppsala wanted to simplify their infrastructure; they did so by getting a proposal from a company who happened to be a Windows certified partner. Obviously that company put forth making a single Windows network.
CONTINUED overpage
Netbooks –
page 1
Software releases, Windows Vista and open source advocacy –
page 2
The war against Microsoft’s war against Linux –
pages 3 and 4
Why Small Business Server sucks and Linux alternatives –
page 4
Education, why open source makes sense –
page 5
Hard-core tech, festive fun and 2009! -
page 6
