MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-08-22 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Microsoft Woos OSDL for New Linux Offensive
|
Microsoft Woos OSDL for New Linux Offensive
August 19, 2005
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1850344,00.asp
By Peter Galli
Microsoft has once again stirred up a hornets nest in the open-source
community, this time approaching the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs) to
work with it on a joint, independent research project to do some facts-based
analysis of Linux and Windows.
While some in the Linux and open-source community have questioned why the
large Linux vendors have not responded to Microsoft Corp.'s aggressive "Get
the Facts campaign," which uses mostly Microsoft-sponsored analyst reports
to compare and contrast Windows Server with Linux, they would be unlikely to
support any joint partnership with Microsoft.
But, undeterred, Martin Taylor, the architect of Microsoft's "Get the Facts"
campaign and the Redmond, Wash. software firm's general manager of platform
strategy, has proposed just that to OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen.
The kicker is that Microsoft has also offered to pay for half of the funding
costs for a joint research project should the OSDL agree to this. That is
seen as unlikely for many reasons, one of which is that Linux founder and
lead developer Linus Torvalds and his right-hand man Andrew Morton are both
employed by the OSDL. Torvalds is a full-time fellow, working exclusively on
driving the development of the open-source operating system.
In an interview with eWEEK, Taylor said that he had been reading an opinion
piece in one of the Linux magazines that identified the need for the Linux
and open-source community to come up with its own facts-based effort. That
motivated him to contact Cohen and suggest this.
Taylor said he sent Cohen, in Beaverton, Ore., an e-mail ahead of the annual
Linux World Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, suggesting the
idea and asking for a meeting. The two then met at Linux World and discussed
the idea and how it would work it broad terms, but there was no agreement of
any sort, he said.
Taylor also told Cohen that the research would be conducted by an
independent analyst, consulting or business advisory firm on a topic that
both felt would help further the dialogue.
Taylor is hopeful that OSDL will take him up on his offer, but a spokesman
for the Labs would do little more than confirm the chain of events and
declined to comment on what was discussed.
"Stuart Cohen did receive a request from Martin Taylor at Microsoft before
Linux World. In part, Martin said he was interested in talking with Stuart
about joint research opportunities on some of the issues in the market.
Stuart agreed to meet with Martin and they did meet," was all he would say.
The proposal is also not finding favor among the leading Linux vendors. Red
Hat, Inc. spokeswoman Leigh Day, in Raleigh, N.C., told eWEEK that Red Hat
had no interest in seeing any such initiative with Microsoft, adding that
she was not sure how a joint venture with the Redmond, Wash. software firm
could ever be independent.
Red Hat also believed that funded research was typically not objective. "We
disagree with the idea of using 'research' as a tool to create FUD [fear,
uncertainty and doubt] in the marketplace. Instead we use real-world
customer testimonials instead of lab-created, situations to demonstrate the
price, performance, scalability and security of Linux," she said.
Next Page: Microsoft increasingly acknowledges strength of Linux
Microsoft executives are now also increasingly admitting that Linux and
open-source software is one of its main competitive threats. At its annual
financial analysts day held at the Redmond campus last month, Kevin Johnson,
the group vice president of Microsoft's worldwide sales, marketing and
services group, gave a 40-minute presentation entitled "Competing and
Winning Around Linux."
And, in a recent interview with eWEEK, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said
that, on the competitive front, in addition to Google and Yahoo, Linux
remains among the most significant challengers Microsoft faces.
Ballmer also said that he believed that the religious war between Linux and
Windows was over and the battle now was about which offers customers the
best technology solution. Conceding that Linux holds the upper hand in areas
such as Web hosting, Ballmer stressed that Microsoft is doing all it can to
change that.
Click here to read what else Ballmer had to say.
Asked about Microsoft's recent moves to meet with open-source executives and
the taming of its anti-Linux rhetoric, Red Hat's Day said this was proof
that Linux had become a standard platform and a major competitive threat.
But Microsoft's Taylor disagrees that funded research is not useful, saying
that a discussion on facts and independent data is always a benefit to the
industry. "As much as Microsoft might get billed as being anti-Linux, that's
actually not the case. I just want people to judge technology on its merit
versus on hype and emotion. It helps all of us build better products and
respond to customer needs more effectively," Taylor said.
As the commercialization of Linux played out even more, customers are going
to require that type of research data. "I actually have customers even now
asking for analysis on Linux. While we have done some in our Linux and
open-source Lab for internal purposes, there is nothing substantial out
there," he said.
Click here to read more on Microsoft's Linux and Open-Source Lab.
Asked what Microsoft's motives were for suggesting such a move and offering
to jointly fund it, Taylor said "because I want to know the facts. I want
people to see the facts for how they truly are. If we did this, some of the
research would be good for us and some of it bad for us, just like all the
other studies we do. I think they just help with the dialogue.
"Success for us isn't that Linux goes away. Success for us is getting past
all the hype and emotion and where people choose technology on its merits,"
he said.
Check out eWEEK.com's Linux & Open Source Center for the latest open-source
news, reviews and analysis.
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