ZDNet: Steve Ballmer: Caught in .Net | Linux Today

ZDNet: Steve Ballmer: Caught in .Net

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Oct 14, 2002

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“I’ve heard frustration with the way we managed the transition
to our new licensing (program). Some customers are very happy
because they are paying less than they used to, some customers are
not very happy because they are going to pay more than they used
to. Probably, the most customers are not in either one of those
categories. They didn’t like it at first; we worked with them, we
worked on their special needs. But I think they are OK with where
they are.

“The term open source–it’s a philosophy. People don’t look at
open source; they look at Linux. That’s really all it comes down
to. People say ‘What about Linux, vs. your stuff?’ And people are
going to look at whether we double our prices or take them down. If
we changed our prices, people are still going to look at
alternatives.

“Second thing, our product is a more complete product. We have a
built-in application server that’s well integrated; there is no
such comparable notion in the Linux server. We have a directory
server built in; there is no such comparable thing in Linux. The
Linux client hardly runs any applications, except a bunch of
shareware stuff that’s not very good…”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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