Vendor plans to do side-by-side comparisons between Linux and Windows in lab environment.
In an effort to better understand its main source of competition, Microsoft has deployed Linux and other open-source software in a test center that's typically used by its business customers to experiment with Microsoft's own products. At its Enterprise Engineering Center in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft has installed the Linux operating system, Apache Web server, MySQL database, and Open LDAP directory-access software on Intel-based computers, according to Martin Taylor, the executive who recently assumed responsibility for Microsoft's strategy for competing against Linux.
The project was started in May with an initial goal of determining the effort involved in building the kind of open-source platform that might be found in a typical business environment. "It's an opportunity for learning for us," Taylor says. The goal is to understand "what can you do and how can you do it" using open-source software, he says. Next, Microsoft plans to create a comparable system using Windows and its own server products to see how Windows and Linux match up side-by-side in a variety of workload scenarios.
News source: InformationWeek
In an effort to better understand its main source of competition, Microsoft has deployed Linux and other open-source software in a test center that's typically used by its business customers to experiment with Microsoft's own products. At its Enterprise Engineering Center in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft has installed the Linux operating system, Apache Web server, MySQL database, and Open LDAP directory-access software on Intel-based computers, according to Martin Taylor, the executive who recently assumed responsibility for Microsoft's strategy for competing against Linux.
The project was started in May with an initial goal of determining the effort involved in building the kind of open-source platform that might be found in a typical business environment. "It's an opportunity for learning for us," Taylor says. The goal is to understand "what can you do and how can you do it" using open-source software, he says. Next, Microsoft plans to create a comparable system using Windows and its own server products to see how Windows and Linux match up side-by-side in a variety of workload scenarios.
News source: InformationWeek
Microsoft's server division is the only business unit at Microsoft, besides those responsible for Windows and Office, that made money in the previous quarter. At today's analyst meeting, Microsoft will announce a change to a unit accountability system which will address this problem. The idea is that Microsoft's money-losing operations will no longer be quietly bolstered by the sales of its successful products, and each business unit will have to cost-justify their products' existence. [That would be apart from the Xbox boys eh?]
Wow, kinda stupid. I'd think the FIRST thing you'd want to do is find out what your competitor can do.
I thought they said it was an opportunity to learn for them. The initial goal being to determine the effort needed to build a "typical business environment". Certainly sounds like they're talking about themselves.
If I'm wrong I'll gladly admit it. But the second paragraph REALLY sounds like the experiment is for MS more than it is for anyone else.
Last edited by 4597 on 02 Aug 2003 - 03:41
now I find out there's a possibility....
Nice to know MS is taking notice properly now though.
Yeah, just like the IBM-sponsored independent tests for Linux.
Regardless of who sponsors them, they're not made up. You just have to know where to find information from the opposite side as well.
I don't know, just my two cents.
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