Ballmer: No sleep lost over Linux

Steve Ballmer had the stage to himself Thursday in San Francisco as he introduced Windows Server 2003, a new version of the company's server operating system that Microsoft's CEO described as "the right product" to help companies stretch their IT budgets. Just how long fence-sitting CIOs will take to heed that message and upgrade their existing servers is the big wild card.

Clearly, Windows Server 2003 is the most ambitious version of the company's server operating system. Microsoft, keen on gaining a stronger foothold in corporate data centers, plans to spend as much as $250 million to promote the product. Though the software took four different names and four release dates to get here, Ballmer says that Windows Server 2003 offers a heap of new features designed to appeal to security-conscious corporate buyers.

But in raising its sights, Microsoft also must grapple with a new constellation of challenges--not the least of which is the increasing popularity of Linux among IT administrators who manage corporate servers.

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