Microsoft tries to seduce OSDL with joint Linux probe

MS "Get the Facts" wasn't taken seriously by the industry. It was a flop. MS was in the ring by itself throwing punches in the air. They want the OSDL to throw the marketing and advertising punches because they know the OSDL does not have the financial resource it takes to respond to MS. All MS and their clients requesting the analysis have to do is read the success stories published and they will see why FOSS is better and much lower cost. Those clients don't need any one else to give them the findings, they can make their own analysis like others did, tailored to their environment and business. It does not cost them much of anything except time. I am sure they can afford that. MS and OSDL will never be able to do testing and evaluation inclusive of all situations and environments. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the comparison, here a little fact for MS to consider. For a typical company of 1000 desktops, the cost of license ONLY per year:

Windows XP pro 1000*120 = 120,000. Windows server 20*400 = 8,000. Windows CAL 1000*30 = 30,000. Exchange Server 2*10000 = 10,000. Outlook 1000*80 = 80,000. Office Suite 1000*150 = 150,000. Access 100*120 = 12,000. Anti Virus 1000*40 = 40,000. SQL Server 5*2000 = 10,000. Misc etc. etc. = 30,000. -------------- Total licensing cost 490,000. Almost half a million a year. Why would anyone want to use MS products if they can use FOSS products for Free & free or for minimal support cost???

Well MS, these are facts, may be not very accurate, but very close. Can you dispute them? I guess not.

Changing platform and infrastructure is not an over night thing. If it wasn't for the lock-in, and the applications that are not available for Linux, everyone would be moving to FOSS immediately. Even if we assume that, it cost half a million for migration cost, a company will be saving half a million every year there after. Isn't time to start seriously looking into moving away form MS? I think many companies already know that and they are planning for it. They are already telling MS some of there thoughts. That is what is worrying MS.

Dear Microsoft,

Thank you for your interesting proposal, but I believe that you are requesting a partnership with the wrong open source group.

Please review OSDL's mission statement. You will see that OSDL has three main goals. http://www.osdl.org/about_osdl

Enterprise-class testing and other technical support for the Linux development community.

Marshalling of Linux-industry resources to focus investment on areas of greatest need thereby eliminating inhibitors to growth.

Practical guidance to our members - vendors and end users alike - on working effectively with the Linux development community.

It could be that, at first glance, you interpreted point one to be about the kind of testing in support of marketing that your proposal speaks to. This is not true. OSDL is dedicated to enterprise class testing that supports projects developed in the Linux Community. Microsoft may not be familiar with this kind of testing, but we assure you that it is an industry standard practice in much of IT.

If Microsoft has software products that it would like to port to the GNU/Linux platform and if you want the products tested for things like quality assurance, stability, security, interoperability with other software, and adherence to international standards, OSDL would be the perfect candidate.

However, it is not part of our mission to engage in testing in support of marketing.

Thank you again for your interest in OSDL, and when you are ready to port or create software for Open Source platforms such as GNU/Linux, please review OSDL's membership and affiliate programs. http://groups.osdl.org/join/#member

We would be more than happy to help you learn about the kinds of testing we help our partners, members, and affiliates conduct to ensure quality, stability, security, dependability, and interoperability. We look forward to that time, and wish you luck in your search for an open source organization that wants to join with you in your marketing venture.

Sincerely,

OSDL