Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: How to respond with dignity?

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:5/14/1999; 7:28:56 AM
Topic:How to respond with dignity?
Msg #:6211 (In response to 6209)
Prev/Next:6210 / 6212

I think you end up with artificial efficiency if you try to make a server perform well under benchmark tests.

Instead of facing off against Linux as if it were a competitor, I would rather see Microsoft embrace it.

I think Ballmer's comments, cited all over the web yesterday, that they might open source parts of Windows, is a smoke screen for the reporters who need to take a trip on the Cluetrain.

What would be better is if Microsoft put some of its resources into building bridges from NT to Linux, as we are doing here at UserLand, and in our community, so that people who want to have Linux as an option, on networks composed of NT, Linux and Mac, and whatever else, have easy ways to link software together running on the different OSs.

Microsoft will go down hard if they insist on matching Linux every step of the way. Their advantage is the size and service and sales organization. They also have more engineers than anyone else. Word, Excel and Powerpoint make perfect sense on Windows. But in terms of servers that support millions of users, the philosophy of Linux *appears* to work better. We'll know in a few months for sure if this is true. This matters much more than ZDNet's benchmarks. Somehow IIS was able to breeze thru all those benchmarks, but still Unix is the OS of choice for large-scale systems serving millions of users.

My advice to Microsoft, hurry up with XML-RPC. It's Embrace & Extend ass-saver par excellence. It makes the world safe for growth. I'm going to point my friends at Microsoft at this message. I know some of them agree with me!

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