The Beginning Of The End For Micro$oft Reign Of Terror

From: Osama Bin KENOBi (abuse@anarchy.gov)
Date: 06/14/02 

From: Osama Bin KENOBi <abuse@anarchy.gov>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 03:55:13 -0400

The world has lost faith in Micro$oft. Most people have now realized
that the seemingly never-ending problems caused by this viral
operating system are the direct result of Micro$oft's marketing
strategy and shady business practices, and can be easily avoided. The
very core design of windoze was based not on the best design for the
user, but on the best design for Micro$oft's business.

To put it simply, Micro$oft just cannot be trusted, Micro$oft products
will never work properly because Micro$oft doesn't want them to...

German gov deal offers Linux great leap forward in Europe
By John Lettice
The Register / R.A.G.U.N.S.

Yesterday's announcement of a Linux-based cooperation agreement
between IBM and Germany's ministry of the interior changes the rules
of the game dramatically. Microsoft still has deals with the German
government, and will undoubtedly still sell software to it and to
Germany's states, but the territory covered by the agreement and the
terms used by minister of the interior Otto Schily signal that Linux
has already won the server war in principle, and that the German
government intends it to do so in practice.

The deal initially covers the sale of IBM systems including eServer
hardware running SuSE Linux to federal, state and local government in
Germany. This helps IBM and SuSE, obviously, but in long term they're
unlikely to be the only ones, as Schily's goals included raising "the
level of IT security by avoiding monocultures," and he is of the view
that the agreement will help the federal, state and local governments
by allowing them to acquire open source products "quickly, easily and
without complication."

The agreement also calls for IBM to and the German government to
create "innovative and reusable IT solutions for the federal
administration," while IBM will be setting up an open source portal
and providing support services.

Microsoft has been making optimistic noises about its existing
contracts with the German government, along with rather sour ones
about the German government allegedly ignoring its own studies which
(equally allegedly) "showed" that Microsoft software was superior both
technically and on price. The reality, however, is that Microsoft's
dominant position in client software, and its challenger status in
server software is pretty much the same in Germany as it is in the
rest of the world. At this stage the question for government is
whether it does as Microsoft says and standardises on Windows at the
server end too, or whether it looks to see if there's another game in
town.

Germany seems not only to have decided to go with the latter but to
make it its business to to help turn it into a convincing game. Oh,
and by the way, the German studies we've seen tend to give points to
Linux for servers while concluding it's not ready yet at the client
end, so we suspect Microsoft of fuzzy survey interpretation.

Overall, the combination of government resources and IBM's government
and corporate solutions expertise could be deadly, threatening
Microsoft with a virtually complete lockout at the lucrative back-end
of German administration. This isn't something a cash-strapped and
resource-starved operation like SuSE (or even Red Hat) could do on its
own at this juncture, so the deal is potentially a massive leap for
Linux into the government/commercial arena.

It'll also give credibility to Linux elsewhere in Europe, where there
is considerable chafing over the cost implications of Microsoft's
Licensing 6.0, and over 'security issues' associated with Windows
(Schily, tellingly, says September 11 was one of his considerations in
striking the deal). It's a little close to the Licensing 6.0 deadline
for people of to jump just on the basis of what IBM and the German
government say they're going to do, but it's starting to look less
like a leap into the dark.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Beginning Of The End For Micro$oft Reign Of Terror
    ... But IBM are now several companies, and not so much of a threat to other ... corporations (at least not as much as microsoft) and as I remember microsoft ... Microsoft still has deals with the German ... >> government intends it to do so in practice. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • (no subject)
    ... But IBM are now several companies, and not so much of a threat to other ... corporations (at least not as much as microsoft) and as I remember microsoft ... Microsoft still has deals with the German ... >> government intends it to do so in practice. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: The Beginning Of The End For Micro$oft Reign Of Terror
    ... In a time before a lot of you can remember, IBM was the villain, now you are ... Microsoft still has deals with the German ... > government intends it to do so in practice. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: The Beginning Of The End For Micro$oft Reign Of Terror
    ... In a time before a lot of you can remember, IBM was the villain, now you are ... Microsoft still has deals with the German ... > government intends it to do so in practice. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • (no subject)
    ... German gov deal offers Linux great leap forward in Europe ... Microsoft still has deals with the German ... government intends it to do so in practice. ... The deal initially covers the sale of IBM systems including eServer ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)