Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use; each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. The Linux operating system is not suitable for mainstream usage by business or home users. Today with Windows NT 4.0, customers can be confident in delivering applications that are scalable, secure, and reliableyet cost effective to deploy and manage. Linux clearly has a long way to go to be competitive with Windows NT 4.0. With the release of the Windows 2000 operating system, Microsoft extends the technical superiority of the platform even further ensuring that customers can deliver the next generation applications to solve their business challenges. In a PC Week Online interview a Microsoft executive expressed what he believes to be fundamental flaws in Linux business model, citing the lack of a broad base of application support and the low level of integration between the OS and its applications. Windows 3With all the recent attention around Linux as an operating system, it's important to step back from the hype and look at the reality. First, it's worth noting that Linux is an UNIXlike operating system. Linux fundamentally relies on 30yearold operating system technology and architecture. Linux was not designed from the groundup to support symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP), graphical user interfaces (GUI), asynchronous I/O, finegrained security model, and many other important characteristics of a modern operating system. These architectural limitations mean that as customers look for a platform to cost effectively deploy scalable, secure, and robust applications, Linux simply cannot deliver on the hype (Carmella, 1997). Myth: Linux perform...
