Interview with Microsoft’s Linux Strategist

ComputerWorld has an interesting interview with Martin Taylor, Microsoft’s chief Linux strategist. This is the first in a series, and is surprisingly short given it’s spread across four pages.

What struck me most about the article is Microsoft only seems to be concerned with the big picture. Big business, big enterprises. They’re still looking for an enemy, per se, specifically companies like Novell and Red Hat that they feel they can compete with. In a sense, it’s the same failing the US faces with the war against terrorism — instead of facing a big, centralized enemy like the former USSR, we’re facing a bunch of small cells with no single, defendable border. Linux presents the same problem as not everybody has to get Linux from a major vendor. (Disclaimer: I most certainly am NOT equating Linux with terrorism, just using it as an example of the mindset. Relax.)

He also outlines the TCO issue in the first paragraph. Surprisingly, he says the TCO issue isn’t so much about Windows vs. Linux but either of them vs. Unix. He claims customers are concerned with finding a lesser TCO over current Unix systems, and that’s where Microsoft is focusing.

Ironically, a Microsoft vs. Linux advertisement appeared next to the article on third page (depending on their rotation, you may or may not see it). It was one of those “Get the Facts” ads, and has the following quote from the CTO of Equifax, Inc: “We got to market six months faster, and saw 14 percent in cost savings over Linux.”

So much for not going directly against Linux in TCO…