Microsoft’s New Play for Linux Lovers

A few weeks ago, Microsoft rolled out what’s arguably its most important product this year: Windows Server 2008, the operating system for corporate server computers. It’s a cornerstone to a bunch of other Microsoft software, and it will be used by businesses large and small.
But it will probably be ignored by an increasingly important type of company: the many little start-ups building new Internet services and technologies. They love Linux; Microsoft would dearly love to woo them over.
Microsoft’s stronghold for Windows Server is in corporations that use the software to run corporate functions like email and finance software. Sales to these customers don’t come suddenly – they’re a slow and steady contributor to Microsoft’s growth over years. “We see a gradual slope in our business,” ahead for Windows Server, Bill Hilf, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Server Group, tells the Business Technology blog.
In the meantime, young Internet companies are snapping up Linux servers by the boatload. The Linux operating system is free of charge to many and has certain bare-bones features that appeal to the Net crowd. They’re hardly the stable customers big software companies like — they’re risky start-ups, after all. Many won’t reach adolescence.
But many do, and some might even be the next Google, a company built on tens of thousands of Linux servers. The next generation is already in the making: high-riser Facebook is also on Linux. For now, even counting Google, Internet-company use of server operating systems is a relatively small part of the overall server pie. But it punches above its weight: Linux success stories like Google are inspiring a growing universe of young programmers to focus on Linux and related technologies and skip Windows.
Microsoft hasn’t been a player in the Net start-up world, in part because of the cost of its server product. Mr. Hilf tells this blog that Microsoft is trying to fix that with new licensing schemes that make Windows Server more affordable for start-ups. The technology has also been a hindrance, which Mr. Hilf says Microsoft tried to overcome by making additions to Windows Server 2008 that might appeal to Linux programmers who want better access to the technical guts of the software. Such changes “will be a big impact to that next-generation Facebook,” Mr. Hilf says.
Microsoft may need to move quickly, particularly if tries to expand its own Internet business through acquisitions.
Yep, Yahoo runs on Linux. ( linux.org-i-hotnews)