High-profile anti-Unix site runs Unix (Microsoft's Unix Bashing site runs on Unix server)

cnet ^

[HamiltonJay]

High-profile anti-Unix site runs Unix

By

Mike Ricciuti

Staff Writer, CNET News.com

April 1, 2002, 6:10 AM PT

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.

[HamiltonJay]

MS once again proves it won't eat its own dog food.

[HamiltonJay]

Nuf said.

[RadioAstronomer]

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!

[ColdSteelTalon]

Yeah I know, rumor has it that they use IBM iSeries 400's as their mission critical processors. They tried to to implement NT server on a wide scale a couple of years ago and failed so they went back to the AS/400 (now called iSeries 400).

[JRandomFreeper]

ping

[PatrioticAmerican]

"MS once again proves it won't eat its own dog food. "

Get real. "Once again"? Just because a site sponsored by MS choses a UNIX platform doesn't mean MS doesn't eat it's own dogfood.

Do you work at Microsoft? Do you KNOW that they don't use their own products? Have you even so much as been inside a Microsoft building?

Your childish bashing of Microsoft is unwarranted.

[PatrioticAmerican]

"rumor". Is that all you have to offer is a rumour? Have you so much as vbeen inside a Microsoft building? Any building? Have ever seen even ONE of their data centers?

Microsoft uses their own products for "mission critial" apps, including their e-mail, source control, etc.

[B Knotts]

What's even more ridiculous is the whole idea of the campaign: UNIX "closed?" Yeah, right. Even proprietary UNIX is far, far more open than the closed Windows platform.

[HamiltonJay]

Yes, I have been to the Microsoft campus and been inside of their buildings, and yes I do know they don't eat their own dog food until they are FORCED to do so. This is hardly the first time MS has been caught doing it. Up until the mid 90's MS was doing all development on Borland Products... only after it got out to the press that they were did they require all development to then be done on MS development tools and software. (part of why MS development tools improved so drastically so quickly during that time) Hotmail was for the longest time running on Unix after MS acquired them, they tried to force them onto NT right after purchase and could not keep the site operational and had to step back to Unix for quite a long time while they tried to make MS work....

But forget all that, here is MS trying to convince people they don't need Unix, and running the site to convince them to dump unix on a Unix server... some "way out".

[mattdono]

where Unix is well entrenched

Wait a minute...how could this be true?! I thought that no platform existed except for a Microsoft platform? < /sarcasm>

I do find it interesing that they don't use their own stuff. But, then again, Microsoft has other things that run FreeBSD, such as HotMail. So, I don't see the big deal. Besides, this article is YET another example of how Microsoft is NOT a monopoly in the OS market.

[Gorons]

You will notice that the web page was designed with Frontpage server extensions. (Frontpage is a Microsoft web authoring application) Also, you'll note if you goto the website this is 100% Unisys website per the copyright.

Perhaps the website runs on Unix because Unisys has web servers in place already.

OS, Web Server and Hosting History for www.wehavethewayout.com

OS	Server	Last changed	IP address	Netblock Owner
FreeBSD	Rapidsite/Apa-1.3.14 (Unix) FrontPage/4.0.4.3 mod_ssl/2.7.1 OpenSSL/0.9.5a	28-Mar-2002	198.63.57.204	Verio, Inc.

So I suggest you do some homework before Microsoft bashing. Microsoft has nothing to do with the website operation. In fact, it's owned by Unisys:

Registrant:
UNISYS CORPORATION (UEGZDXBIUD)
UNISYS WAY MS E8 152M
BLUE BELL, PA 19424-0001
US

Domain Name: WEHAVETHEWAYOUT.COM

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
UNISYS CORPORATION (K4608-OR) hostmaster@unisys.com
UNISYS CORPORATION
UNISYS WAY MS E8 152M
BLUE BELL, PA 19424-0001
US

+1 410 308 7264 fax: +1 410 308 7464

Technical Contact:
Starner, Mark (MS22) mark.starner@UNISYS.COM
Unisys Corporation
Unisys Way MS E8-152M
Blue Bell, PA 19424
US
(410) 308-7264 (410) 308-7464

[HamiltonJay]

Gorons,

I suggest you actually read the article, Unisys runs the server as part of the new MS/Unisys initiative to convince people they don't need Unix. This is a joint endeavor by MS and Unisys to try to convince the server realm they don't need Unix, and they launch their site to convince people of this on a Unix server.

[PatrioticAmerican]

More rumours, buddy. "forced"? You don't know what you are talking about. How about some sources on the Borland thing and that "forced" statement. For Hotmail, Microsoft bought the company, which was using UNIX at the time. You are trying to make it sound like Microsoft built Hotmail using UNIX, not having purchased a company that built Hotmail using UNIX. I also doubt that you have been so much as a foot inside a Microsoft building, much less a Microsoft data center.

[PatrioticAmerican]

While the article is irony at its best, you didn't read Gorons post very well. He said that the site is only HOSTED by Unisys. Unisys uses UNIX in many places, including their web hosting. So what? Ironic? Yes. A reason to bash Microsoft? Hardly.

[Gorons]

You don't understand what I am saying. Unisys has web servers in place in a server farm outsourced somewhere, or they run it in their own environment.

Unisys, not Microsoft owns and runs this website. I am sure it's running on Unix because the software and hardware is in place per Unisys web standards, not Microsoft.

And since I work for Microsoft we do dogfood our products, usually from RC1 on.

[mattdono]

Gorons can answer for himself, but I understood that from the article. I do think that Gorons makes a good point about who is operating the site...it is not Microsoft. I don't think that washes with your comment about Microsoft not eating its own dog food.

P.S. Do you think you could use a different metaphor? The dog food thing is just gross.

[Dominic Harr]

This is sort of like how MS uses Java Applets for their online offerings that have 100,000+ users, while dissing Java out of the other side of their mouths?

[4CJ]

It's wasn't a rumour. Dr. Frank Soltis (very highly placed IBM engineer) announced that MS had dropped 23 AS/400's in favor of NT servers prior to Y2K. After spending millions bringing the NT servers online MS allegedly scapped them and purchased new AS/400's. Of course MS denies this, they claim that the machines are used for test purposes.

[Revolting cat!]

This may be a deep, deep philosophical question, but since it is related to the theme at hand, I'll axe it anyway: How am I or anyone else supposed to express in print my dislike of the QWERTY keyboard? Or, in a similar vein, how does one travel to a demonstration protesting the internal combustion engine?