Is Microsoft taking dead aim at Linux?
COMMENTARY-- Microsoft's alliance with Sun seems to have been the turning point. The old saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" seems to apply here. Sun and Microsoft are competitors in the enterprise server space but both are threatened by any widespread adoption of Linux in the enterprise.
To be sure, recent inroads by Linux have very little to do with the commodity consumer desktop, but they seriously threaten Microsoft profits -- and growth potential -- in the enterprise server arena. For Sun, though, Linux poses a threat to their very existence. By "infusing" Sun with capital (an investment -- not a settlement), Microsoft insures that Sun lives to fight another day. (Their "investment" in an SCO license has the same effect -- and SCO keeps the Linux folks at bay without posing any serious threat to Microsoft.)
And, in the end, just as Microsoft needs Apple to survive to keep the antitrust wolves at bay in the consumer sector, they also need Sun to survive to keep those same wolves out of the enterprise server sector.
The rationale for the rest of these "settlements" is a lot less clear. I suppose that Microsoft could be going after IP rights, but it is not clear in what arena and to what end. Office compatibility is the only obvious area, but it strikes me that OpenOffice is just not that big a threat -- at least not unless or until Linux starts making real inroads into the consumer desktop space. Enter the EU...
The EU has a lot fewer qualms about holding Microsoft's feet to the fire than our own Department of Justice -- and Microsoft has made some interesting moves as a result. For instance, after spending years telling the DoJ it could not make a "stripped down" version of Windows, Microsoft is now introducing -- on the heels of the EU findings -- a "Windows Lite" product into the Asian Third World (under the auspices of anti-piracy -- right!). This sounds to me a lot like a contingency plan. If they lose on appeal in the EU courts, they will have a multi-language product on the shelves that they can ship to Europeans, in compliance with EU demands -- while Americans continue to pay top dollar.
Aside from sending the message that Microsoft is no longer the bully but is willing to negotiate its disputes (a strategy that probably costs them a great deal less than litigation), I think Microsoft is indeed clearing the decks -- but for an all out assault on Linux! (Actually, an assault on the GPL is probably the more likely scenario.) Clearing up matters with Novell only strengthens Microsoft's position and puts Novell precariously close to the edge if either 1) SCO prevails in proving Unix ownership, or 2) Microsoft goes after the GPL itself and prevails.
Aligned with Sun Microsystems -- the only truly "untouchable" Unix license holder, and duly licensed by SCO, Microsoft would be a formidable opponent indeed. And, a Linux (or GPL) defeat in the U.S. courts would make any EU decision empty.
C. Marc Wagner
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN