Microsoft Licensing Terms Drive Some Smaller Firms To Linux

By Ted Kemp

Resistance to Microsoft enterprise licensing terms that took effect this summer is causing some companies to purge their IT infrastructure of the software giant's products, and prodding others to experiment more aggressively with open-source applications than they were beforehand.

Microsoft says a minority of companies are evaluating Linux but asserts that most of them are doing so as an alternative to Unix rather than Windows. A Microsoft spokesman noted that most customers exploring the open-source Linux OS tend to use "one-of-a-kind" computing platforms such as those that support financial analysis or oil and gas exploration. He added that because Microsoft offers turnkey computing platforms -- spanning operating systems, development tools and applications -- it has a sustainable edge over Linux and other open-source platforms.

In a separate interview, Microsoft officials said they're pleased with adoption of their new licensing terms among customers, but they didn't release any figures on the rate of adoption.

Still, several smaller companies told InternetWeek.com they're replacing some Microsoft products with Linux, claiming they're eliminating licensing issues, improving their security, and saving money. There's less evidence to suggest big enterprise customers are moving to Linux or open-source products broadly.

Paint manufacturer Continental Products -- a 40-person company -- hopes to finish a complete migration to Linux in six or seven months. The company can't afford to manage Microsoft licensing and auditing requirements when it needs to make system changes on the fly, said Continental IT manager John Stevens.

"We're hard on our computers. We come up with equipment replacement on a routine basis. It's not a problem for us to go out and buy new pieces and plug them in, and I do not want to be in a position of calling Redmond every time I've got to make a change," Stevens said.

The company's biggest concern is its 20-year-old DOS-based product formula database. For security reasons, the company doesn't want its core database to have any connection to the Internet. It's also replacing Microsoft Windows on its desktops with Linux so it won't have to connect to the Web for system updates. "That's definitely a game that you're better off not playing if you can stay out of it," Stevens said.

Continental has begun dual-booting some desktops with various versions of Linux so employees can train on them and decide which version they like best. The desktops ran Windows 98 previously.

Continental is putting out initial feelers to Linux developers such as CodeWeavers to try to tackle any compatibility problems between the database and Linux operating systems. Regardless, Stevens is relatively certain the DOS-based database would be incompatible with Windows XP.

Continental's plan to eradicate Microsoft from its infrastructure is more the exception than the rule, however.

Integrated Support Systems (ISS) is migrating its current internal NT infrastructure to Linux, but the software company will maintain a few NT servers and workstations for product testing.

ISS makes large-scale configuration management software that its military and aerospace customers use to track parts and order from suppliers. ISS's customers use a variety of operating systems -- including Windows.

Currently, ISS is testing various SuSE and Red Hat Linux systems to manage its largely Java-based software development. The company is migrating some of its infrastructure management to Linux systems as well; for example, ISS began using a Linux-based router to load-balance traffic from the multiple DSL lines that feed into its network.

The company began investigating Linux when big companies such as IBM began to support it, but Microsoft's licensing terms accelerated its migration, said ISS systems administrator Curtis Turner.

"The Microsoft [licensing] deal has definitely prodded us a lot harder toward trying to remove our reliance on it as far as our own in-house use," Turner said.

The hard part of migrating to Linux, Turner said, will be convincing salespeople to switch to open-source desktops. Many of those employees are dependent on applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint. In the meantime, some of ISS's more tech-savvy staff members have begun using Linux alongside Windows on dual-boot desktops, or tinkering with second PCs that run Linux.

ISP and software development company Extentech estimates it saved $50,000 by installing Linux-based MySQL databases, SuSE eMail Server 3, and Apache Web servers last year to host its customers' e-mail, sites, and Web applications.

A year ago, Extentech used NT servers, but the company opted for Linux after comparing the costs of upgrading to Linux servers, new NT servers, and Windows 2000 servers, said CEO John McMahon. Another motivation for the switch was Extentech's decision to begin creating clients' dynamic Web pages with Java 2 Enterprise Edition rather than Microsoft's Active Server Pages. J2EE's strong cross-platform support was a better fit for Extentech's purposes, McMahon said.

The difficulties posed by training personnel to use Linux desktops have discouraged Extentech from abandoning Windows 2000, however. Linux desktops lack many of the wizards and "hand-holding" provided by Microsoft products, McMahon said.

"It would be very difficult productivity-wise to justify throwing away tools that you're comfortable with," McMahon said.