A Look at Windows Server Outselling Linux 450
THG writes "CoolTechZone.com has an interesting look at Linux's position in the market now that Microsoft has sold more Windows Server software than Linux. From the article: "The most important reason that Windows based servers are doing so well could be that programmers find it extremely easy to work on .Net and other related technologies (seamless integration). Plus, you have hassle free and rapid support from Microsoft, which is a comforting feature for corporate customers. When Windows Live comes in, we will see further integration between the server and online technical support areas, thereby making the troubleshooting process easier for in-house administrators and reducing overhead costs for the company."
Cred, where on cred is due... sigh (Score:5, Interesting)
From the article:
Is this really true? The teams I worked with on .NET and
Windows technology hardly found the integration seamless. As a
matter of fact we had a full-time staff of Microsoft consultants
on-site as well as on call to help provide workarounds for all of
the glitches with the .NET technology, and there were a LOT of
them.
I do wish there were less license for this kind of publishing. It is the complement to libel, i.e., it gives undue credit to someone for something not true. Weird. And, it still does damage to third party simply by virtue of lending credence and credibility to .NET and Microsoft. Sigh.
Misrepresented Statistics (Score:5, Interesting)
I wouldn't be surprised if there were more physical servers running Windows, but if you count virtualhosts instead there would be far more sites using Linux.
Windows better due to the Linux "threat" (Score:3, Interesting)
If the Microsoft Windows OS is becoming a better product than it used to be, then this is a great thing. If Microsoft Windows is becoming better DUE TO the presence of Linux as an alternative OS, then all the more better for both OS's. The computer world needs progress in order to keep millions of programmers and sysadmins like myself in proper employment.
Now, as I originally stated in my discalimer, I am a Linux zealot like the next penguin-headed person. I have no problems with people who think that Windows is better than Linux, because I know that Linux is aimed at people who like to (borrowing from a Mac quote) "think different" and/or have needs that Linux better suits than Windows.
Only counting purchases... (Score:3, Interesting)
Regarding MS' 'seamless integration' of code on top of the OS, in this instance, only companies which own or can deliver and support the complete stack (OS, RDBMS, OOP, Web server, App server, etc) will be in a position to compete - Sun, Redhat and Novell come immediately to mind. Currently, Sun - w/ Solaris, Java, et al - is most equipped to deliver a seamlessly-integrated full stack w/ support to counter MS' offerings.
Re:No purchase necessary (Score:3, Interesting)
From that point of view, Microsoft could claim that "the number of company supported server OSs market share is bigger for Windows". I can take that were sold or even used around the world more Windows Servers than Enterprise versions of Linux distributions... but from there, to say that Windows server is more used than linux is a big shot
What Rubbish (Not Troll...Serious comments!) (Score:5, Interesting)
Windows Troubleshooting (Score:5, Interesting)
What I don't get with Windows troubleshooting is why the first thing you do is reboot. With Linux, if you have a problem, 100 reboots is not going to solve the problem. As a person who has administrated hundreds, probably thousands of Windows, Linux, BSD machines, I find Linux to be much easier to troubleshoot because there is basically no such thing as an intermittent problem.(maybe 0.01% of the time and 99.9% of the time its a hardware problem and not Linux) You either have a problem, or you don't. There is not of this crap where a machine runs fine for 30 days then all of a sudden has issues that go away when you reboot.
Maybe others have different experiences, I don't know. I've worked a lot of different places over the last 10 years and this has held true everywhere.
Re:Not to mention.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Servers you can get without the Windows tax with a small penny saved. (small in comparison to the overall cost anyway... sorta... unless you count the license packs for connections... then the savings are quite ungodly... a few more dots shall we?
Re:What are they smoking? (Score:3, Interesting)
Try support issues regarding the function of Exchange server in a large educational environment.
>ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and C# Windows apps are very easy to write and maintain.
You are entitled to your opinion that the above statement is correct. It just hasn't been my experience.
.I'm sure Gartner was also including ... (Score:5, Interesting)
They also, no doubt, included in the counting the number of times a single, freely downloaded copy of Linux was installed more than once.
Yup, despite the fact that these "onsulting" firms income streams totally depend on advising on the use of Microsoft software, I'm sure Gartner analysts will be professional and do their best to tally accurate counts, eschewing the crass action of merely rubberstamping a Microsoft PR memo. After all, people who earn fees by being featured in Microsoft server sales videos shouldn't have too much trouble remaining unbiased.
mmm... after thinking about it I'm sure they never counted the four Linux servers we recently installed at work. Maybe they aren't as accurate as I thought.
Re:Is it April Fools alreay? (Score:5, Interesting)
We've worked with Microsoft's $245/call service several times with obscure problems and two things to Microsoft's credit:
1) they never gave up on the problem
2) they came through with a fix (longest wait time was a really odd Office/Windows OpLock prob and we had a fix within 10 business days).
Man, I think MS is the devil as much as the next guy (Apple guy here, for reference), but I've put dollars up that they've refused to take.
FUD you're speakin', I'd say...
Re:Is it April Fools alreay? (Score:2, Interesting)
OK I'll give on support cause I just don't know. But, I will go on to discredit this website.
First in the title "Linux is Doomed thanks to Microsoft"; "Linux" links to Information Week which has a whole section dedicated to Windows and calls itself a "Microsite". "Microsoft" links to an ad mentioned in the story (Live Meeting). The Link found in the story is "Server Software" which links to an HP Printer?
Google linux site:Gartner.com oh boy, this website is a flamethrower, fud factory, or whatever you want to call it. I would also like to add that CoolTechZone did not link directly, to this wonderful store of unbiased software evaluations.
I almost decided not to label gartner.com as biased then it hit me, why doesn't Gartner.com have a hype cycle for Windows report? Or, a single depiction of an effective deployment of Linux? Further research shows, there are one or two accurate assesments of Linux. Try IBM site:gartner.com and there you go. Don't do linux site:gartner.com cause it doesn't work very well. Confused?
go Here: http://www.gartner.com/2_events/conferences/lsc23Re:Gartner... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is it April Fools alreay? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, MS support is expensive, but I know that if I call them, they will MAKE someone work with me, even if I have to end up on 3rd level developer support. With Linux, no such luck. I'm at the mercy of the wind. Yes, I can buy support from Red Hat, but can they guarantee that whatever they tell me will also work on Debian? I just want support for Linux, not for Red Hat Linux.
MS support is HASSLE FREE because you are not reduced to begging someone for help. If you got the money, you get the support, and it's pretty damn quick (once you navigate their phone system and they manage to understand what you are asking.) I am talking from my experience the past 1.5 years of writing the same application under three OSs: Win32, Win CE, and Linux.
Re:Hmm... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not to mention.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Dell is a no-buy in my "house". For many reasons starting from being very non-standard (just disassemble one for a change and see how many parts are custom) and finishing with being Texan.
This leaves me with the other usual suspects - IBM, Compaq/HP and Fujitsu/Siemens. Well, none of these sells OS-less servers at least for the UK market. None of them sells desktops or laptops without a preloaded OS either. And you do not get the discounts and the special offers on the few models available with a linux preload.
In fact, if you follow the discounted models you can get a better value for your money then from buying OS-less Dell. Sad but true.
Re:Microsoft technicial support is outstanding (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: Microsoft does give good support sometimes. (Score:5, Interesting)
Those creditials as a Certified Anti-Microsoft Geek (tm) out of the way:
The one time I had a problem on Win98SE and called for support they:
1) tried to have me reinstall everything (I refused since I'd done that myself twice).
2) They said okay then, the call is going to cost you $35 bucks (I said, Sure).
3) They then spent 5 hours, pulled in at least 2 senior programmers and eventually correctly diagnosed that the sound card (a really high end card I paid about $250 for in 1996ish) had not produced a new compatible driver for win98SE. Since they had me doing all the keying and mousing, I learned a lot about debugging the problem. It was indeed the sound card (which I replaced with a creative Live card).
4) They said, "wow- that was a toughy. No charge!" at the end of the call.
So as far as customer support goes, I have no complaints as a microsoft customer from my one hardcore experience with them.
Straw man argument (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hmm... (Score:2, Interesting)
Well one data point from the small company I work for.
We have 20 Linux servers all running gentoo.
We have support for the hardware, but not the OS.
My new baby (dual Opteron) is in charge of cross compiling updates for all the other machines as well as network and server monitoring (nagios, cacti, snort etc).
Additionally it connects across all tiers, so we can centrally manage all other servers including remote desktop to our remaining Windows servers which are being fazed out.
Anyhow, that's what we have for what that's worth. We are not running any big commercial software packages though.
Another question: I wonder. . . (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course, because each uses home-brewed "distributions" built from source downloads and in-house contributions, each deployment is not counted as a sale- heck, the original box at each company probably was based on Slackware and not counted as a sale from the very beginning.
Google and Akamai are not the only large data houses or hosts turning to Linux by a long shot, and yet every solution where the distribution is downloaded and deployed from an image (particularly from in in-house distribution) is not counted as a sale. This is because Linux (and BSD) make this possible - both due to licensing and due to technology.
Is it possible to build your own Windows distribution tailor-designed? Sure, but the custom licensing and paperwork (including NDAs) make the cost prohibitive if not obscene, and those certainly would count for sales - each deployed instance. There is certainly some of that going on with Windows, and those are tallied in the sales, but nowhere on the level that Linux and BSD are.
It's well-known that Daimler-Chrysler and AutoZone are migrating to (or have completed migration to) Linux - is each system deployed tallied as Linux sales? Doubtful, because each instance was likely deployed from a single downloaded image, or a single image purchase.
The solution?
Microsoft should build a better product, price it in accordance with its true value, and market it to compete with Linux. Sell it based on its merits/benefits and not based on what FUD they can contrive.
So, how does one tally Windows vs. Linux deployments? Self-reporting? Doubtful. People/organizations which pirate Windows will under-report deployments. Organizations which are Microsoft partners will over-report deployments and sales. Linux zealots will over-report.
Wow, completely wrong. (Score:1, Interesting)