[plug] Is there finally a crack in Windows? Is it called Linux?

[Jon Miller]

Thought this was of interest:
SOLUTIONS INTEGRATOR --- May 29, 2003
Published by ITworld.com -- changing the way you view IT
http://www.itworld.com/newsletters 

Is there finally a crack in Windows? Is it called Linux?
By Joel Shore

Microsoft is scared. Well, concerned might be a better word. There's a
new kid in town and it's not OS/2, the operating system that fell down
and couldn't get up. No, this time it's the upstart we call Linux. You
know Linux, the free operating system that you have to buy from the
likes of Red Hat and SCO (which used to be called Caldera.) Is it good
for you?

Look behind the scenes and there's a lot of maneuvering for position
going on. SCO (which used to be called Caldera), for better or worse,
owns UNIX, which it acquired from Novell which acquired it from UNIX
Systems Laboratories which acquired it from AT&T. A couple of weeks ago,
SCO (which used to be called Caldera), started sending letters to Linux
customers and operating systems vendors that they better lay off, that
they were using an "unauthorized derivative" of its intellectual
property, namely UNIX. Perhaps Utah-based SCO (which used to be called
Caldera) is just blowing smoke (though few in Utah smoke). 

In any event, things could get ugly. It's quite a turnaround from just a
few years when Caldera (which is now called SCO) said Linux would be
everywhere - from server down to your wristwatch. Linux has been pretty
much of a flop on the client side. Nothing like re-inventing yourself.

Microsoft, which has had an operating system monopoly since DOS debuted
in 1981, a couple of weeks ago complicated things even more when it
licensed UNIX technology from SCO (which used to be called Caldera).
Remember how Microsoft considered UNIX to be the mortal enemy just a few
years ago? Desperation drives companies to do strange things, it seems.
The move is seen as a way for Microsoft to very actively undermine the
Linux juggernaut. We'll see. We know that Microsofties have been told
"under NO circumstances lose against Linux." And that came from a July
2002 memo penned by Orlando Ayala, Microsoft's top sales honcho.

And while Microsoft is busy tearing down its only serious competition,
everyone else seems to like it more and more.

You already know that IBM has embraced Linux in a big way. Maybe it's
Big Blue's ways of getting even after Microsoft dropped OS/2 in favor of
Windows. 

The most recent convert is PeopleSoft, whose nearly 200 different
business software modules will run on Linux by year's end. Oracle and
SAP have lined up, too. How serious is PeopleSoft about it? "Unix broke
the dependency on IBM mainframes, and Linux will break the dependency on
Microsoft," PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway said a conference in early May.
It's not unlike 1999, when Lotus said it would drop for NetWare,
claiming that Linux was the future.

So where in the world does this leave you?

Are you going to get sued by SCO (which used to be called Caldera) for
selling Linux? Doubtful. Is your business - probably already built
around Windows Server - going to see Microsoft's products end up on
Antiques Roadshow? Not a chance.

As I see it, this is a round of competition that is good for everyone
but Microsoft. Actually, it might humble them just a bit. (yeah, right)
You've finally got a for-real alternative to pitch to your customers.
IBM will come to your door, begging you to sell its servers, designed to
run Linux from the get-go. If your business has enough critical mass,
IBM will likely provide some of the training that your sales and
technical forces will need. More and more "serious" big-time software
applications are coming to Linux. And since Microsoft doesn't want to
lose business to Linux, look for them to be a whole lot more flexible
when it comes to pricing.

I'm not about to stand back and turn this into a pure spectator sport.
I'd much rather be in the trenches, getting wooed by vendors on all
sides, and playing one against the other in order to get the best
solution at the lowest price for customers. Yep, margins may suffer
initially, but turning a customer into "a customer for life" is far more
valuable.

Jon L. Miller, MCNE, CNS
Director/Sr Systems Consultant
MMT Networks Pty Ltd
http://www.mmtnetworks.com.au

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure
 is trying to please everybody." -Bill Cosby