“The bad news for Microsoft began earlier this year with IDC’s
report that Linux was the fastest-growing server platform in
1999…”
“… Microsoft appears now to be squaring up to the competition,
as indeed it must do as the launch of Windows 2000 approaches. It
has created a Linux response team… and it is currently
advertising for a product manager to provide a “competitive
analysis of Linux, both for providing product planning to the
development team and for technical assistance to Microsoft’s sales
force.”
“we do not yet see what Microsoft can do, other than spend
marketing dollars and we doubt if that will make the difference.
Microsoft is caught by it reliance on the operating system as a
revenue source.”
“Linux is becoming the first choice… To level this out,
Microsoft has no choice but to offer price parity with Linux – but
the Microsoft business model forbids this.”