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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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> mikef@ariel.co.za
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