Posted on 04/01/2002 7:06:49 AM PST by HamiltonJay
A Web site sponsored by Microsoft and Unisys as a way to steer big companies away from the Unix operating system is itself powered by Unix software.
The site, dubbed "We Have The Way Out," runs on Web servers powered by FreeBSD, an open-source version of Unix, along with the Unix-based Web server Apache, according to Netcraft, which tracks Web site information. Both pieces of software compete with Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Microsoft/Unisys site solicits names and contact information in exchange for research reports on data center trends.
Officials at Unisys and Microsoft weren't immediately available for comment.
The marketing site's use of Unix comes as Microsoft works to get a greater foothold for its Windows operating system in the enterprise computing market, where Unix is well entrenched. Unisys partnered with Microsoft to co-market its large server hardware running Windows as a Unix alternative.
The Web site is just part of Microsoft's renewed marketing and advertising campaign to undermine Unix, the operating system at the heart of powerful server lines from rivals Sun Microsystems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
Unisys is spending $25 million on the campaign. Microsoft is adding funding of its own but has declined to say how much.
The "We have the way out" campaign describes Unix as an expensive trap. "No wonder Unix makes you feel boxed in. It ties you to an inflexible system. It requires you to pay for expensive experts. It makes you struggle daily with a server environment that's more complex than ever," one ad reads.
The same ad depicts a scene in which a computer user has painted himself into a corner with purple paint. Sun's servers are manufactured in a shade of purple similar to that in the ad.
The 18-month project will include advertisements, technical sales efforts and other marketing work plugging Unisys' high-end server and Microsoft's top-end version of Windows--two products that so far have made only their first steps into the data centers where high-end servers often reside.
The Unisys ES7000 server can accommodate as many as 32 Intel processors and can be divided into independent "partitions," each with its own operating system. The Datacenter version of Windows 2000 can run on machines with as many as 32 processors. These top-end configurations are rare, Unisys has said, with eight-, 12- or 16-processor partitions more common.
Download, implement, and then feel free to express in print your dislike for the old standard.
I use this metaphor for a reason. This metaphor is probably the single greatest one there is in software development in my oppinion. Great engineers/developers are groomed by "eating their own dog food" (having to work/use day to day on the products they produce) Only through such behaviors does the attitude of "its good enough" ever get squelched. If a developer/engineer is not forced to use the products he builds the product will not be the best it can and the developer/engineer will not improve their ability and learn from their mistakes.
Do you even read my posts? First of all, I very clearly stated "AFTER MICROSOFT ACQUIRED HOTMAIL"... what part of that makes it sound like MS built Hotmail? Secondly, the MS Borland debacle is part of history, not imagination, it made it to the public and is not rumor. Thirdly, What you doubt and what is, it of little consequence to me, there are still those that doubt the earth is round, and I suspect you may be one of them. Facts are I have been to MS, in fact they spent what I consider a reasonable amount of old Bill's money when I was out there being wooed by them. Put me up in a very nice place overlooking the lake, was a very fun time.
So, are you saying that MS developers don't run NT/2000/XP Pro on their workstations, don't write documents with Word, spreadsheets with Excel, and use Mozilla in lieu of IE?
Probably not. That was my point about Unisys operating the web site, not Microsoft. You (or the article) implied that Microsoft was operating the web site.
I am not trying to split hairs, but you can't dismiss the facts that Gorons pointed out. Further, if Unisys created and operated the site, it is Unisys that isn't eating its own dog food.
Yuck...I understand your point about developer's behavior, but the dog food thing is still gross.
I have a college textbook published in 1985 or 6 which surveys the operating systems then known and after an intruduction and description of UNIX it says this apologetically (quoting from mem'ry): "You may think that UNIX is a tinker toy operating system." This in a book which also covers MS DOS and CP/M as I recall.
I happen to remember the promise and have trouble becoming fanatically devoted to any of them.
If you are going to try to convince people they don't need Unix in the server environment and then you don't even follow through on your own servers you certainly don't "have the way out" as they are claiming.
That sounds like the definition of a rumor.
Personally I can't believe the MS business people did not insist that the server be MS if their name was going to be on it, since they tend to try to force MS OS into everything they can get their hands in. However the point still remains, MS and Unisys decided to convice the world they don't need UNIX in the SERVER environment, and then jointly went with a Unix solution for their SERVER to do this.... if Unisys/MS is going to try to convince the world they "have a way out" of Unix in the server world, they should have made damned well sure the server they are using to promote it displays their ability... this one doesn't.
I wouldn't buy a greyhound to pull a plow, nor would I buy a mule to chase rabbits. They each have their own niche.
Preaching to the chior on this one. Gates has been salivating for the server market for a long while and MS just can't get over the hump, for a multitude of reasons. So they have their Unix bashing in full swing in their latest attempts to gain or retain market share... but when push comes to shove and you look under the hood, MS products, especially OS, in the server realm don't measure up.
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