“Microsoft’s share of that [server] market is not in the same
league as its 87% share of consumer PC operating systems. One
reason is that among its rivals is a fast-growing and essentially
free system known as Linux. For that and other reasons, Windows
2000’s market penetration is expected to be gradual. … In the
server market, the company faces a growing challenge from the Linux
operating system, which has been developed communally and is thus
not under the control of a single corporate owner.
Linux is especially useful for Web servers, or computers that
control Web pages and Internet applications. Another attraction is
its price; Microsoft will charge some businesses about $200 per
computer, or as much as $4,000 per server, to install Windows 2000.
And one of Linux’s traditional drawbacks, the lack of applications
such as word processors written to run on the system, is fading as
major application developers begin to produce Linux-based
programs.
But Microsoft’s real Achilles’ heel in the professional market
has been the doubt that Windows NT is sufficiently reliable when
running sizable computer networks–that is, that it will not cease
working when burdened by a heavy computing load.”
“[IT manager at a Petaluma, Calif., travel company, John] Stuart
attended the San Francisco Windows 2000 conference, but many of his
peers stayed home. Organizer IDG World Expo said it was
expecting 20,000 people–fewer than attended IDG’s Linux conference
in New York earlier this month. In many areas of the show
floor, exhibitors outnumbered non-exhibitors.”