

Why Microsoft? Microsoft vs. Linux - matthiasv
http://www.whymicrosoft.com/Pages/linux.aspx

======
TallGuyShort
They ask a lot of questions they don't answer, and from my experience with
both Windows and Linux, Linux can answer most of those questions far better
than Windows. This is a joke.

edit: example: "Will patching and security lead to downtime?" There's ksplice
and kgraft and more - patch the kernel with no downtime. And even without
using either, I can't remember the last time I had to reboot immediately
because a patch was that critical, or the last time I had to sit there waiting
for my laptop to reboot 3 times trying to install the weekly updates. Windows
Update blows.

edit: another example: "Proven security development lifecycle". Ha ha ha ha
ha!

~~~
robmccoll
Updating application software on Windows can be a pain as well since replacing
the running binary must be done by the binary itself (otherwise it seems the
file is locked). Which means that unless an application is specifically
written to support it, upgrading in-place isn't an option (AFAIK).

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blueskin_
Oh, look, FUD.

>Microsoft: Proven security development lifecycle

>Linux: Security threats?

You owe me a new keyboard. This one is full of coffee.

Also got to love the whole "Linux doesn't do AD" BS. If you still live in
2005, perhaps not, but that's about it. You could also argue that AD is a
misfeature, given the almost hilarious insecurity of NTLM password hashes,
etc.

~~~
pyre
Technically they are right. Linux is only a kernel. You need other software to
run AD, so they are covered legally! ;-)

~~~
blueskin_
Ah, the FSF argument. I guess saying GNU/Linux was too wordy for Microsoft
anyway, with their whole Metro concept being "having information density and
options is bad".

~~~
dozzie
OK, where do you have your GNU X11 server? Or GNU SMB implementation? No,
Samba _does not_ come from under GNU umbrella.

~~~
blueskin_
Exactly.

------
gregmorton
In 2014, 97% of top supercomputers are Linux based.

[http://readwrite.com/2014/07/01/linux-world-domination-
compl...](http://readwrite.com/2014/07/01/linux-world-domination-complete-why-
its-foolish-to-bet-against-open-source-
communities?utm_source=fast_coexist&utm_medium=pubexchange)

~~~
sremani
How many super computers are running in your IT infrastructure ?

~~~
mattikus
I can't speak for most, but there's 3 in my infrastructure.

And many private businesses have large clusters with job scheduling very
similar to HPC. HFT Finance firms come to mind.

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leni536
_However, sometimes your solution is focused solely on server-side operating
systems, and that 's where Linux falls short._

I laughed hard. Also what is with all the question marks on the right side of
the table? It's almost like they are not confident with their statements about
Linux.

~~~
Gracana
They seem to only have one real point, that microsoft products work best with
microsoft products. The rest of it is just building up a sense of vague
uncertainty. I would have thought Microsoft could make better arguments than
that.

~~~
blueskin_
Microsoft is a shadow of its former self now it's focused on selling locked
down phones and web services instead of any actual software.

------
smanuel
It's getting embarrassing. Are the marketing folks at MS completely clueless
or maybe I'm the clueless one?

First it was the "Don't get scroogled" campaign, now this.

Oh, and the iPhone funeral fiasco too.

[http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/10/microsoft-celebrates-
wind...](http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/10/microsoft-celebrates-windows-
phone-7-rtm-with-funeral-parade-for/)

They desperately need a Chief StayClassy Officer.

~~~
blueskin_
I thought the funeral one was interesting, as the iphone had lost the top spot
around then IIRC - just to Android and not windows mobile, so the whole stunt
was really just saying congratulations to google.

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CephalopodMD
So the essential argument I'm geting here is this

You should use Microsoft server solutions because 1\. Microsoft servers work
well managing linux solutions 2\. Linux systems can't handle microsoft
solutions themselves 3\. We are uncertain what Linux is capable of/how secure
it is 4\. Therefore, you should go Microsoft (QED)

Ignoring how blatantly misleading these points might be given that linux is
quite mature and we now live in a work of system virtualization (Wine
anyone?), the argument here only serves to convince me that I should be using
linux solutions instead of Microsoft solutions in my company. If a given
solution works for linux (which, despite calling out Active Directory, they
don't seem to have ruled out as a possibility) and can also be managed through
Azure, then Why on earth would I create an inflexible system that can only be
managed through Microsoft branded tech? Am I supposed to be convinced by their
skepticism on linux? I'm perfectly capable of researching linux server
solutions myself. Am I supposed to be amazed at the flexibiliy of Microsoft
servers while simultaneously scared away from the flexibility of using linux
solutions? Outside of server use, this doesn't seem like a good argument to
use Microsoft solutions at all.

------
HugoDias
"However, sometimes your solution is focused solely on server-side operating
systems, and that's where Linux falls short."

wha?

------
motters
Same old same old FUD campaigns. Perhaps Microsoft will never get a clue, but
it doesn't matter to me because I'm not using any of their software.

Also, you can't claim that your systems are secure and then not have the code
publicly auditable. That's preposterous.

~~~
TallGuyShort
You also can't claim your code is developed with a "proven secure" process
when you have to convince a court to let you hijack someone else's
infrastructure to hack around the horrible security mess of your own products.

------
petepete
Fair enough, if you need AD, .NET, SQL Server etc. then choose Windows server.
For everything else, Linux wins.

~~~
sremani
Would you like to elaborate by answering the questions posed there ? Concisely
or verbosely.

Linux Wins. Windows Sux is not the cookie-cutter answer I would expect on HN.

~~~
TallGuyShort
No I think I understand his point pretty well. The article's strongest
arguments are interoperability with other Microsoft products. THAT's a weak
argument. He's kind of parodying them. Even they tout Linux support as one of
THEIR features.

------
lowmagnet
So, like others here I don't trust javascript, so I run HTTP switchboard. I
got the following message:

"you may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server.
Please enable scripts and reload this page."

"a secured browser on the server"

where "secured browser" == one that has JS disabled (?)

"on the server": what is "something you shouldn't do on a server"

~~~
blueskin_
It's microsoft. They probably think their customers shouldn't know what a
server is lest they cut into MS' license to print mone-...I mean, 'cloud'
business.

------
couchand
Microsoft seems to be touting their support for various Linux distributions on
their server products. I can't help but be reminded of the massive
miscalculation IBM made in OS/2 development: they went to great lengths to
make sure it supported Windows applications, which simply encouraged
developers to write interoperable Windows code rather than OS/2-specific code,
despite the technical advantages of OS/2.

------
Shorel
The answer should have been Active Directory.

Everything else in that page is a lie.

\- The cloud as we know it is built on Linux.

\- Web development has moved to Linux. Rails, Django, Laravel, Nodejs, all run
better on Linux.

\- Git works better in Linux, both as a server and as a client.

\- The security issues are more severe in Windows.

And yes, MS AD is a killer feature.

------
dlitz
The page doesn't load for me. My recursive resolver (unbound) just gives
SERVFAIL.

I did a bit of digging, and apparently you need to follow a ridiculously long
CNAME chain just to resolve the domain:

    
    
        www.whymicrosoft.com.                                   CNAME   whymicrosoft.sharepoint.com.
        whymicrosoft.sharepoint.com.                            CNAME   prodnet17-37a0001.sharepointonline.com.akadns.net.
        prodnet17-37a0001.sharepointonline.com.akadns.net.      CNAME   prodnet17-37ipv4a0001.sharepointonline.com.akadns.net.
        prodnet17-37ipv4a0001.sharepointonline.com.akadns.net.  A       157.55.62.117
    

For me, that's a typical example of why I avoid Microsoft stuff. They promise
the world, but never seem to get the details right.

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atoponce
Despite the page, I will mention this: corporate vendor support is sufficient
for teams that don't have the technical expertise to either roll out a new
technology or troubleshoot problems on their own. This is partly why Red Hat
Enterprise Linux is so popular, among other reasons. When there is a
technical, competent, and strong administration team in house, most of those
concerns go away. When there isn't, licenses for commercial support make
sense.

------
fla
FUD rising to a new level:

Persistent threats and dedicated attackers can slow your projects and put your
IT environment at risk with Linux projects.

------
robmccoll
Ultimately, I wonder what development environment people prefer? For me, POSIX
APIs and GNU/Linux extensions are far simpler to work with to do what I need
and get the performance I want. Windows development just seems very heavy, and
the APIs, while comprehensive, are incomprehensible.

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vezzy-fnord
Throwing around the "cloud" buzzword, in spite of recent development on
cgroups, CoreOS/etcd, Project Atomic and yes, even systemd, was funny enough.
The paragraph on "security threats" was by far the most hilarious though,
because you could tell they really had nothing worthwhile to say, but had to
include it for the FUD value.

------
openbsddesktop
Then why doesn't the market leading companies use M$? Because it's not worth
it.

~~~
DominikD
Some do, some don't. Unless you have a very specific market in mind, then
perhaps you're right.

In general, however, your statement is on the same level of correctness as
Microsoft's advertisement linked here.

------
robinhoodexe
Laugh of the day

