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Story: Microsoft stands firm in the 'great Linux debate'

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It amazes me how much passion swells up when this topic is introduced. It reminds me of the Java vs. .NET debates of only a couple of years ago. I'm sure it will be in-line with new similar debates in the not-so-distant future.

What is clear is that there are a few camps of people. There are those who are arguing on religious grounds - it's ethically imperative to destroy Microsoft, or some similar nonsense. The other side touts the difficulties of working with different distributions. The fact of the matter is that we all use what works best in our own business worlds. Whatever that is for you and your organization - then use it. Quit this petty bickering that makes no difference to anyone that is 2 or more levels above the TCP/IP stack in their organization. The fact of the matter is that it is IT pros who are trying desperately to create some inkling of a battle that matters, when in fact, it doesn't. Whatever provides the greatest functionality, for the least cost, in the least amount of time will win. That's how business works folks. IT in and of itself doesn't matter. IT matters only when it drives business capability, which is directly correlated to cutting costs or increasing revenues. That's it. Pure and simple. If the GPL is your view of how best to accomplish that - go for it. Most organizations realize that it is far too risky to use open-source software for critical business operations. So, since Microsoft is the only proprietary software which hasn't sold out their model to open-source (unlike IBM, HP, Sun, etc. - aka, the losers) they are the default choice. The arguments proposed in this article and in the comments so far posted only play one or the other side of the marketing game. Go ahead and fall into that trap - as many do. The decision makers do and always will realize where the business value is. If that someday becomes Linux, then so be it. For now, it is clearly and comfortably in the hands of Microsoft. And to dispel all the related myths of Microsoft's demise, please check out their recent (or any over the last 10 years) earnings statements in the Edgar database online and you will see Microsoft is cleaning house. IBM is preying on those who haven't yet made the transition to client/server even (mainframe, AS/400, etc.) to go to Linux to take advantage of the Intel cost model which means they have no choice but Linux since they couldn't come up with their own viable alternative. Novell clearly lost the network market to Microsoft and is now desperately holding onto IT pros need to reinvent themselves after the fall of the dot-com hoopla they so desperately stirred in attempt at self-importance, Sun completely failed at both hardware and software and resorted to suing as a last ditch effort to survive until Microsoft threw them a bone in order to resolve some of their own legal difficulties, HP always plays both sides of any coin - smart to hedge their bets, but never truly rising to the creme of the crop because of it. It's just hilarious to see how many people have yet to understand what is really going on.

For those of you who care about your careers - IT, business, or otherwise - bet on Microsoft technologies. For those of you who would rather get into arguments for arguments sake - continue this worthless battle in worthless chatter zones such as this feedback column. I'll be happy to have all you ex-Linux admins serve me fries on my next skiing trip.

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