President Bush is to Windows as...
By Sidney Hill, Jr., executive editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
Warning: Not to be construed as an endorsement of any political viewpoint; nor is it meant to imply that any product is better than another.
With that disclaimer out of the way, I'll ask a question. Am I the only one who sees parallels between the recent U.S. presidential election campaign and the ongoing battle between Windows and Linux?
The race for the White House featured an incumbent who—if you believe what you read in the mainstream press—most of the country believed was doing a less than stellar job. Still, he was reelected.
With operating systems, we have Microsoft Windows as the incumbent market leader. And again, if you believe what you read—in Internet chat rooms and other places the digerati frequent—many are dissatisfied.
Just like with the election, however, not enough people are voting with their dollars to knock Windows off its perch anytime soon.
Yes, there have been reports of Linux closing the gap. IDC, Framingham, Mass., reports that Linux was the fastest-selling server operating system in 2002, capturing 23 percent of an $18.6-billion market. IDC notes, however, that Microsoft netted 55 percent of all server operating system sales that year. It also says Microsoft was "still far and away the market leader."
There is little reason to believe Microsoft's overall position relative to Linux has changed drastically. Yet the battle rages on, with Linux supporters preaching that Linux is cheaper to own, and it's more secure and reliable.
Some of these arguments actually make sense. As Scott Lundstrom, CTO at Boston-based AMR Research, points out, Linux has a modular architecture that potentially makes it more secure than Windows, which bundles multiple components—Web browser, Web server, FTP server, messaging servers, and more—in one package, even if the buyer doesn't plan to use them all.
But will that message ever reach the majority of Windows users, particularly since Microsoft—which has more ad dollars than Republicans and Democrats combined—has unleashed its own version of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign?
Microsoft's initiative started roughly a year ago, with the launch of a Web site, www.microsoft.com/getthefacts. The site offers counterpoints to every argument made about Linux being better than Windows. It also features case studies of Microsoft customers who reportedly have done their homework and found Windows better.
Recently Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, began complementing this Web site with open letters to Microsoft customers further outlining Windows' virtues. Of course, this has angered the anti-Microsoft crowd, with some labeling Ballmer's prose nothing more than spam.
Regardless of where you stand on the Windows versus Linux debate, it appears that the majority of users, at this point at least, are taking the same position a majority of voters took in the presidential election. They would rather stick with a known entity—even if it's less than perfect.
That reasoning won George W. Bush another four years as leader of the free world. Only time will tell if it will keep Microsoft atop the operating system world.
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