“ISVs, tired of Microsoft’s bullying, have thrown support
behind Linux. But take the club out of Redmond’s hands by dividing
the company and many reasons to embrace open source alternatives
evaporate….“
“Microsoft is attempting to capture a monopoly at the server by
infecting open Internet protocols with proprietary extensions. The
more people use those extensions, the more they will become
dependent upon Windows.”
“Fortunately, that strategy isn’t working very well for
Microsoft yet, primarily because it’s losing the support of
third-party ISVs. The software giant’s biggest obstacle in rallying
ISV support at the server is its own reputation for predatory
behavior. ISVs are giving only reluctant support to Windows because
Microsoft so often uses its platform software to put its
competitors in other categories out of business.”
“But to ISVs, market share is nearly everything. As long as
there is the potential for Windows 2000 to capture the most server
market share, ISVs will wait and see. They will continue to pretend
they love to support Windows while privately denouncing the
platform. And if Windows 2000 wins at the server, they will
reluctantly support it to the exclusion of many other platforms.
But Windows 2000 hasn’t won yet, and it’s not doing as well as
Microsoft had hoped.”
“Enter Linux. Linux is demonstrating enough growth that it is
becoming an attractive platform for ISVs. Privately, ISVs confess
they are still very skeptical that Linux could become the dominant
enterprise computing platform. But ISVs are crossing their fingers
and hoping the trend continues. Because if it does, it could free
them from the nearly guaranteed tyranny of Microsoft.”