I was just recently at Internet World 1999 and my impression is that Microsoft is indeed threatened by Java/Corba. Most successful e-business/e-commerce solutions run on *nix using Java servlets, Corba and XML. Any vendor that is out to make money for himself (and most are) choose non-MS solutions. They are more reliable, extendible, and don't lock you into waiting for MS to provide you "additional" features or standards.
The interesting thing about MS is that they adopt standards or features quickly in order to capture market share, not to provide the developer with the best tools quickly. They want to get their solution to you before you have a chance to realize their are better ones out there. How is that brilliant? It's just business.
And MS is about to take a pounding. They're missing the next wave just like they missed the entire concept of the Internet.
Anyone can choose to not use Microsoft for any reason they see fit. Not using "Microsoft logic" to base IT decisions is NOT a criteria for being a Linux zealot. It's just business.
On a side note, it was really cool to see how popular Linux and other *nix solutions are remaining.
I'm here to tell you guys, *nix isn't dead and won't be for a long time. And a lot of *nix will still run the Internet for a long time.
From talking to many vendors, it obvious that any large scale web sites such as Excite have moved away from NT boxes to Unix (Solaris in this case for ChiliASP). The NT solution are just not as scalable as *nix solutions at the same cost.
How's this for a business justification: Excite moved from 100+ NT boxes to 4 4-CPU Solaris boxes running ChiliASP. No more reboots, no more lock ups.
