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Microsoft Deploys Linux, Open Software in Test Lab
securitas writes "Microsoft has deployed Linux and other open-source software in test labs used by business customers to experiment with Microsoft's products. The products include Linux, Apache, MySQL and Open LDAP directory-access software on Intel-based computers, according to Martin Taylor, who is in charge of Microsoft's Linux competitive strategy. He said the goal was to learn 'what can you do and how can you do it' using open-source software in a competitive analysis. This step comes after Microsoft's recent admission that Linux is Microsoft's biggest threat after economic conditions. Mirrors at CMPnetAsia and InternetWeek." It'd be cool to see some patches come from Redmond, but that's probably wishful thinking.
thought it felt a bit nippy outside...
Microsoft favored thick clients purely because they had shitty servers, and so that was the solution that favored them the most. And *NO*, thick clients do not lead to more end-user choice. What bullshit. Thick clients mean the users have no choice but to use the same system their co-workers are using, from the high level apps all the way down to the OS itself. Thin clients mean they ONLY have to use the same software for that one task that is shared over the network. For everything else they use what they feel like. Thin clients means I can use Linux while my coworkers use Macs and Windows, because the client doesn't dictate what we have to have on our desks.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.