In its play against Linux, Microsoft is keeping its cards close to
its chest over one of the members of the Windows .net family,
writes Eric Doyle.
Like Windows 2000, Windows .net, will appear in the Standard,
Enterprise and Datacenter Editions when the series is released
later this year, but the company also plans to release a cut-down
Web Server Edition to attack Linux in the open source operating
system's principal market. Although this edition has been on the
cards for more than a year, Microsoft has not been trumpeting its
arrival.
Tom Bittman, vice-president and research director at analyst firm
Gartner, said Microsoft is caught between stemming the Linux flood
and risking stifling sales of its current Windows products in the
light of this cheaper, if not free, product. "If Microsoft markets
the fact it will have it, it will be forced to spend a lot of time
explaining what it is and what it isn't to avoid a slow-down in
sales - and all before the product is launched. Better to keep it
quiet," he said.
The growing backing behind Linux represents a threat to Windows,
and Microsoft is starting to build up its guard. "Microsoft is very
worried about Linux. In fact, it is perhaps more worried than it
needs to be," said Bittman.
"In the early days, Microsoft's value proposition against Novell
Netware was applications. The value proposition as Windows NT grew
up against Unix was cost [due to Intel server hardware]. Linux
eliminates this value proposition - if applications come to Linux.
IBM is spending a lot of money to make this happen, and some
suppliers, such as SAP, are aggressively promoting Linux as an
application server. These are very real threats."
If Microsoft's aim is to scare people away from Linux by offering a
competitive product that will fit on conventional servers, Internet
appliances and blade servers, it may have to work harder to provide
a stripped-down version of Windows. Its present plan is to release
a standard version with certain features disabled.
A crucial factor for Internet server use is the size of the
operating system footprint for smaller servers and the processor
power required. At the moment, Web Server Edition will need a
minimum speed of 133MHz, but past experience shows that it is
usually best to stick to Microsoft's recommended CPU speed, which
is 550MHz or higher.
The disabled features show that this will be a specially configured
version for e-commerce, with no support for features that will be
initiated through the server rather than by it, such as Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Internet Authentication Service
(IAS), and with only limited support for virtual private
networks.
Nor do current plans support clustering, which is a surprise given
the opportunity that blade servers offer for providing clustered
high performance or failover.
When the Windows .net server family is released later this year,
Microsoft will be running straight at Linux's market, and the Web
server will be a major battleground. "For those buyers who are
interested in Linux because of price, this might push them back to
Windows," said Bittman.
"However, many Linux users find the flexibility to clone as many
images as they choose without worrying about a licence attractive.
Others are anti-Microsoft or pro-Unix and will choose Linux
regardless. So the answer is that Microsoft will win more deals
against Linux - it will slow Linux somewhat, but it won't stop its
growth."