Linux no challenger, says Microsoft

Microsoft has launched an attack on Linux, amid signs that the open source operating system is becoming widely accepted for enterprise applications and is gaining government recognition.

The software giant stoked the Linux debate last week, when it suggested that it would never seriously challenge Windows.

In an interview, Oliver Roll, marketing director at Microsoft, defended the decision to let selected developers tinker with parts of its code, which enabled sharing of ideas and increased skills. He reiterated that the company would never open up the core source code.

Microsoft brushed off claims by Linux creator Linus Torvalds that it aimed for market control by changing open projects into incompatible Microsoft-only features. It hit back, saying that opening the core code prevented standards from developing.

"Customers have spent years trying to create standards to have a common pool of skills. It's cost effective and means they have choice. The moment you open up source code, it is impossible to create that standard in the marketplace," said Roll.

However, Eddie Bleasdale, director of consultancy user organisation Netproject, stressed that Microsoft was not a standard but merely offered a dominant product. "If Microsoft is talking about standards, why does it change its products and file formats, forcing users to upgrade?" he pointed out.

He argued that Linux was stable because it was based on Unix, which has been under development for 30 years, and that banks and the National Security Agency were moving to Linux because it was more reliable and more secure.

Bleasdale added that the Government's decision to fund research to implement public key infrastructure for Linux showed that it recognised the importance of open source. "Linux will become the dominant server operating system," he said.

Roll admitted that Linux was growing, but stressed that it would never gain critical mass. "It doesn't provide the stability organisations need. The space where Linux is used today is recycled servers," he said.

He predicted that Linux use in the UK would rise 15 per cent this year, but that Windows 2000 would hit 20 to 25 per cent.