How Microsoft Could Embrace Linux

securitas writes "In a commentary and analysis piece, BusinessWeek technology editor Alex Salkever discusses how Microsoft can embrace Linux, and asks the question, 'Considering Redmond's slim odds of conquering developing nations, why not offer them a low-cost Linux version of Office?' Salkever explains that 'Microsoft faces increasing competition in both PC operating systems and in desktop applications' which are its core businesses, while corporate customers would likely adopt Microsoft Linux products." (Read more below.)

"He goes on to cite the governments of Paris, Munich, Brazil, Peru, China, Korea, and Japan which are all embracing open source software to varying degrees. Meanwhile, when they choose Microsoft software, fast-growing emerging markets like China and India opt for pirated copies. Salkever explains that the concerns for customers like these are the 'relatively high price of Microsoft software' and the 'concerns about buying proprietary software to run critical government operations.' Finally he points to recent moves by Sun and IBM to leave the commoditized software and hardware business behind, writing 'When the world's largest and most respected IT consultancy draws a clear bead on your crown jewels, it's time to mount a bold counterattack.'"

Comments

Office for Linux? who'd use it?

[phantasma6]

why not offer them a low-cost Linux version of Office?

why would any linux user use MS Office, especially when they have to pay for it?

considering heaps of people use OpenOffice.org and the like on Windows, I really don't see many people using MS Office under linux.

Re:Office for Linux? who'd use it?

[Elektrance]

I think there would be a market for this. Consider an IT department that is transistioning to Linux. If they can use Microsoft Office on Linux, there is one less area to re-train the users, saving the business money and time. That is of course assuming that the cost of the Office liscenses is less than the cost of training all your users.

Re:Office for Linux? who'd use it?

[hendridm]

Their whole system is built around integration - the more Microsoft you use, the more "pleasant" it's supposed to be. Exchange with Active Directory and SQL Back End, IIS for the web server, etc. If they make their products interoperate with competitor's technologies, they lose this sales tool.

We ran into this problem when we were looking to buy a new web server. The director actualyl gave me a choice on what was loaded on it. Although my last employer was a Linux shop, this place is Microsoft/Novell. As much as I love all things Linux on the server, we eventually decided to put Windows on it because a) we didn't want a third environment (Windows, Novell, Linux), b) most of our department expertise is Windows/Novell, c) Many of our apps are written in ASP, and although it wouldn't have been out of the question to rewrite them or use an emulator in the short term, it was a drawback.

I wouldn't doubt, however, that the major reason our director (is generally against free software) was okay with Linux is because Novell is backing it now, which is a good thing.

Er, OpenOffice

[DrStrangeLug]

If people have already decided to go for a linux OS then finding a good open source office suite to go with it is no problem at all. I think the time for MS to try to gain a foothold in the linux application market was about 2 years ago and they missed it.

Of course not

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would Micro$oft make the Linux platform more appealing by creating apps for it?

They won't !

[jalet]

They won't embrace it, because they can't extend and extinguish it as they have done for other software.

Thanks for the most part to RMS and the GNU GPL.

M$ on linux

[Sarastrobert]

It would be nice but I think there is too much speaking against it.

First of all I don't think it would be an easy port to make considering how M$likes to intermingle it's OS with it's applications. Office is bound to be using alot of OS specific API's, com objects etc... If the main selling opportunity would be low priced copies to the third world, then maybe they don't think it is worth the cost.

Thirdly I think it would be to much an admittance of defeat for M$ to aknowledge Linux that way.

Re:argh! my eyes

[Ralph Yarro]

Congrats on the new section, but the color scheme is killing my eyes.

Color scheme looks okay to me, nowhere near as bad as the Games ones but I'm wondering whether they really have enough Italian readers to justify a special 'it' section.

Re:If MS were not so proud...

[Anonymous Coward]

Condition variables (available under any half decent implementation of Pthreads Posix standard) give you just that kind of ability.

Granted you don't have the ability to set up asynchronous callbacks to be called when something does happen to your mutex/socket.

Before someone points out that a call to select() will tell you when data becomes available for reading, the important distinction is that in the asynchronous callback model in Win32 you get told when and don't have to hang around waiting for it to happen. Obviously you could simulate something along the same lines by having a select() in a single thread notify you (or do a callback) when data is available but in Win32 this takes almost no effort on your part.

If doing communication based software that has to actually be cross platform (and your stuck with C++ for some reason) then ACE is your saviour.

It is a bit unfair criticising the features of the Pthreads model vs the Win32 model - as with everything Microsoft they only had to make it work on one platform theirs ! Portability and real cross platform applicability does come at a cost.