“For most of this decade, companies have said yes to every
Microsoft (MSFT) upgrade. If history is any guide, the cycle
will likely continue, at least this time around. But the
explosion of Internet-based computing, combined with the
open-source movement, is offering new and broader choices that
could threaten Microsoft’s three main revenue streams: Office,
last upgraded this past June; the Windows desktop operating system,
where one federal judge says it has a monopoly; and Windows servers
that run networks and Web sites.”
” ‘I’ve participated in beta tests since Windows 95. [Windows
2000 test versions are] a little better than NT 4.0, but that’s not
saying a whole lot,’ says Chad Mercer, lead analyst in marketing
networking systems at Cessna Aircraft in Wichita, Kan. In spite of
Mercer’s lukewarm endorsement, Cessna is upgrading to both Windows
and Office 2000 to leverage its existing investments in Microsoft
systems. ‘We’ve been playing with Linux since 1992 and it’s more
impressive,’ Mercer says.
But even IT managers who want to use alternatives will have a
tough time getting the concept to fly companywide. ‘It’s hard to
push [Linux] corporatewide because of the time and money we’ve
already invested in’ Microsoft products, Mercer says. ‘We run an
Exchange mail server and Office. If it weren’t for that, there
wouldn’t be any reason to run Windows.’ “
“As for Office 2000, the rise of application service providers
and Web-based services could one day bring the downfall of
Microsoft’s other software staple. Why pay Microsoft for word
processing, e-mail, calendaring, contact management, spreadsheets
and database software – when you can “rent” similar
functionality for less money, or get it for free? A contender in
this area is Sun (SUNW) ‘s soon-to-be-launched StarPortal, the
fruit of its recent acquisition of StarOffice. StarPortal will
provide free productivity applications over the Web.”