The Anatomy of a Frontal Assault on Apache: Microsoft’s Web Server Strategy

By Conrad
Sanderson

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has recently made some interesting
noises in Austria. As mentioned in LinuxToday and
Microsoft,
Kanzler Klima … (translated via Babelfish), during a keynote
address (and/or an interview) Ballmer said “Apache is simply
better.” And then: “It is our own fault if we do not offer
enough features with our servers to justify their price. When it
comes to hosting several sites on one server version, Apache is
simply better. Windows 2000 will solve this
problem.”

This is a warning sign 1000 miles high and wide that is easy to
decipher knowing Microsoft’s tactics and their history. Everybody
knows what happened to Netscape. Let me dissect what is going to
happen to Apache (and indirectly, to Linux):

• Microsoft admitting that Apache is better ? Let’s remember that
  Microsoft is more of a marketing company – they would never, ever,
  I repeat, ever do that. They are too accustomed to spreading FUD
  and proclaiming “our stuff is better than competition” even when it
  clearly isn’t so. Since they are admitting that the
  price/performance/features equation of Apache is better than
  anything Microsoft has to offer, it means they have gotten used to
  the idea, mulled it over, and came up with a solution. Apache is
  not just hurting them financially in the server market – it is also
  hurting them in the statistics game, and Microsoft hates not being
  on top. They hate not being in control. At last count Apache has
  57% of the server market while MS had about 23%.
• The MS solution to the Apache
  problem: Windows 2000 will have a simple
  (lightweight?) web server – very easy to setup and maintain. This
  will be “integrated” into the operating system, just as
  Internet Explorer was in Win98.
• This MS web server will also be available as a free download,
  for use on Win95 and Win98 machines. This is done purely to spread
  it and populate it everywhere – make use of the existing Windows
  userbase, since the Windows 2000 upgrade (read: migration) will
  take some time. Have you counted how many pirate MP3 sites use
  primitive FTP servers running on Windows ? The installed user base
  of Windows machines runs into the 100s of millions, while Linux and
  other UNIXes that run Apache are only a small percentage of
  that.
• This new free MS web server will not be as fast, or feature
  rich as their current IIS server. They still want to make some
  money out of it. People will be easier to convince to upgrade from
  the free server to IIS after being used to a Microsoft product.
  Even if the free web server eats into their IIS sales, their
  thinking is that it is at least a Microsoft web server and not
  Apache…
• … which leads us to: Microsoft will add some Internet
  Explorer-only features into their new web server (small at first),
  thus attempting to control the server and client
  side at the same time. Using Netscape to access the web server ?
  Too bad it won’t do SomeCoolNewFeature – normal people and
  Windows geeks won’t be impressed…
• The new free web server / Windows 2000 combination will reduce
  the appeal of Apache, and hence, Linux (sinceit is the primary
  platform on which Apache runs on). The main
  attraction of Linux/Apache is the price and functionality.
  To most people, its Open SourceNess is a
  secondary bonus. Microsoft understands this and is
  attempting to weave a self-fullfilling prophecy of “Linux is
  only a fad”. Stability is of course important, but Microsoft’s
  Marketing Power ™ will make sure that this is non-issue when the
  advertising (read: hype) campaign starts for Windows 2000.
• Attacking Apache with this kind of tactic is not legally
  painful as integrating the browser was. After all, Apache isn’t
  made by a company. To the legal system and Microsoft, Apache came
  out of the ether and its secretary is a website.
• Overall, this strategy isn’t much different from what Microsoft
  did to Netscape. MS is yet again leveraging the Windows installed
  user base to counter a new threat: Open Source Software. But this
  threat is of much greater importance and greater stakes are at play
  here. They know OSS works. They know it has better stuff than they
  make. They know it develops quicker. They are scared of becoming
  obsolete. But most of all they are scared of not being on top, not
  being able to dictate. Not being able to control.

Recommendations:

• Fix the performance problems in the Linux kernel and Apache as
  soon as possible, to create yet another viable technical reason for
  choosing Linux/Apache over Microsoft products and take the wind out
  the sails of Microsoft’s PR benchmark department.
• Increase the population of Linux before
  Windows 2000 is released by having a good office suite for Linux
  (KOffice and Corel Office are good candidates).

Final Thoughts: