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MICROSOFT'S HALLOWEEN WEEKEND LASTS ALL WEEK
I thought this might be of interest....
+ MICROSOFT'S HALLOWEEN WEEKEND LASTS ALL WEEK
A competitive analysis of Linux performed by Microsoft's own
engineers found that the operating system is "best-of-breed
Unix". "Consumers love it," reported Microsoft employee Vinod
Valloppillil in the second confidential memo leaked to
programmer Eric Raymond this week (CI No 3,531). Nor are
consumers the only ones, it would seem. Valloppillil was
breathless over his experiences in testing the platform: "I'm a
poorly skilled Unix programmer but it was immediately obvious
to me how to incrementally extend the DHCP client code (the
feeling was exhilarating and addictive)." Valloppillil and
co-author Joshua Cohen gave the open source operating system a
rave review, noting that many primary applications - from web
servers to POP clients and text editors - are available free;
and that Linux running Navigator rendered simple HTML and
graphics 30 to 40 percent faster than Windows NT 4 running
Internet Explorer 4 on the same box. "A lot more thought and
work needs to go into formulating Microsoft's response to
Linux," the engineers write. They note that attacking Unix in
general helps attack Linux in particular. This involves
improving NT's interoperability, availability and management -
at present, Linux's particular competitive advantages over NT.
The writers repeated the assertion Valloppillil made in the
original Halloween document, that adding proprietary extensions
to standard network and server infrastructure can "raise the
bar & change the rules of the game" by disabling other
platforms. Valloppillil and Cohen also threw in a new
suggestion. Since Linux developers have demonstrated their
willingness to "cherry pick" features from other software, they
may have left themselves open to some kind of IP lawsuit. "The
effect of patents and copyright in combating Linux remains to
be investigated," they note. Ironically enough, this memo is
titled "Linux OS Competitive Analysis: The Next Java VM?"
Microsoft itself is currently in court over Sun's allegations
that in adding proprietary extension to Java tools, Microsoft
disabled its rivals' software (CI No 3,493). Would that be
strategy three deployed against strategy two?
> Mike Fisher
>
> Ariel Network Solutions
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