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Anather interesting news buleting by CNet - Microsoft forms group =?x-user-defined?Q?to=A0?= counter Linux



Hi all,

It's another article about MS fighting Linux.
I think you'll find it interesting.

Microsoft forms group to  counter Linux
                                                By Stephen Shankland
                                                Staff Writer, CNET News.com
                                                May 21, 1999, 12:25 p.m. PT

                                                update Microsoft is growing more serious in
                                                its efforts to respond to Linux and has
                                                assembled a handful of people to evaluate
                                                Linux the same way the company evaluates
                                                other competitors.

                                                The effort is part of the company's standard
                                                way of assessing competitive threats and
                                                using that information to figure out how to
                                                improve the company's own products,
                                                Microsoft spokespeople said today.

                                                The group includes fewer than 10 people,
                                                the Wall Street Journal reported today, but
                                                Microsoft spokespeople were unable to
                                                confirm the number or say how long the
                                                Linux evaluation effort has been under way.

                                                Linux is changing the rules, said Brian
                                                Behlendorf, a developer of the Apache Web
                                                server software popular on Linux. "I think
                                                they better watch it. I would be doing that if I
                                                were them," he said.

                                                Microsoft isn't to be discounted, though.
                                                Microsoft has "shown it can turn the
                                                company on a dime, as it did with the
                                                Internet a few years back," Behlendorf
                                                added.

                                                While Microsoft's Linux plans may seem a
                                                bit ad-hoc, the company has been
                                                sharpening its focus on the upstart
                                                operating system. For example, the
                                                company funded a controversial study
                                                pitting Windows NT with Linux on computers
                                                serving up files and Web pages and then
                                                publishing a Web page showing the
                                                advantages of NT over Linux.

                                                "It's time for the Linux folks to step up to the
                                                challenge and prove that Linux is capable of
                                                achieving better results than Windows NT
                                                Server," Microsoft says on the Web page.

                                                The software giant has denied Linux is a
                                                threat, which is convenient for its marketing
                                                effort, while acknowledging it's a competitor,
                                                which is convenient for its legal battle with
                                                the Department of Justice.

                                                Though Linux has its fans and detractors,
                                                it's hard to deny that the Unix-like operating
                                                system is changing the computer
                                                landscape. Linux is cheap, particularly given
                                                that companies don't have to pay extra
                                                depending on how many clients will connect
                                                to a Linux server. Many companies are
                                                selling servers tailored for Linux, including
                                                the biggest sellers of servers using
                                                Windows NT: Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell
                                                Computer, Compaq Computer. Linux also
                                                stands as a good way to get more use out
                                                of older computers that aren't beefy enough
                                                for other operating systems. And because
                                                its programming instructions are available
                                                for anyone to see, companies can debug or
                                                tune Linux themselves.

                                                Criticism fading
                                                Some standard Linux criticisms are also
                                                fading. It now works better on
                                                multiprocessor machines, round-the-clock
                                                global technical support is emerging, and
                                                HP is helping to set up a site where
                                                companies can hire Linux developers to
                                                write software under a deadline to meet
                                                specific requirements.

                                                Behlendorf said the biggest change in the
                                                playing field isn't so much Linux, but the
                                                arrival of the open-source programming
                                                model--a method Microsoft has been paying
                                                attention to since at least August 1998, the
                                                date of publication of its Halloween
                                                documents.

                                                Microsoft has made vague statements
                                                about releasing parts of its own software as
                                                open source, though not likely as open as
                                                what prevails in the open-source
                                                community.

                                                One example of the company's mindset is
                                                the Microsoft-funded Web server study of
                                                Linux vs. Windows NT by Mindcraft, a lab
                                                that tests software for clients including
                                                Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, SGI, Apple,
                                                and others.

                                                The study found that NT was 2.5 times
                                                faster than Linux at serving up files and 3.7
                                                times faster serving Web pages, but it
                                                provoked outrage among Linux fans on the
                                                Internet who said the NT system had been
                                                tuned for the test but the Linux system
                                                hadn't been.

                                                The Mindcraft test employed Apache, a
                                                popular open-source program adopted by
                                                IBM and others that delivers Web pages to
                                                Internet browsers.

                                                Apache developer Dean Gaudet, however,
                                                acknowledged in a posting to the Linux
                                                kernel mailing list that Apache isn't blazingly
                                                fast. "Apache will never be the fastest Web
                                                server, because that isn't our goal. Our goal
                                                is correctness and usability. Performance at
                                                this level is mostly a marketing gimmick."

                                                Tuning Apache gives only a few percentage
                                                points improvement because of the way it's
                                                designed, with a new computing task called
                                                a "process" being generated for each Web
                                                page delivery.

                                                Behlendorf said that Apache developers are
                                                changing Apache by altering how the
                                                program allocates tasks. The method, called
                                                "multithreading," is expected to give the
                                                software a performance boost, particularly
                                                in serving up complex pages.

                                                Meanwhile, Mindcraft was stung by
                                                accusations that its study found what
                                                Microsoft paid it to find.

                                                Perhaps more significantly, though,
                                                Mindcraft invited "leaders of the Linux
                                                community to participate in a retest of the
                                                Linux and Windows NT Server benchmarks
                                                we published," the company said. "We hope
                                                that they will accept this invitation."

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