Why Microsoft is wary of open source, Jun 18, 2001

Behind the war of words, analysts say, is evidence that Microsoft is increasingly concerned about Linux and its growing popularity. The Unix-like operating system "has clearly emerged as the spoiler that will prevent Microsoft from achieving a dominant position" in the worldwide server operating-system market, IDC analyst Al Gillen concludes in a forthcoming report.

A public relations campaign about the true strength of Linux server sales began when one big research group issued numbers showing less market power than were reported in another study.

Gartner, a research firm, reported that, for the fourth quarter of 2000, Linux server sales were 8.6 percent of the market rather than the 27 percent reported by International Data Corp.

WAKE UP, open-source community. The battle is not for the desktop; it is not for the server; it is not for the operating system; it is not for the development environment; it is not about the GNU General Public License (GPL) vs. Microsoft's business model. The battle is primarily about who will control user-authentication services.

Microsoft Corp., even while mounting a new campaign against open-source software, has quietly been using such free computer code in several major products, as well as on key portions of a popular Web site -- despite denying last week that it did so.

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