Microsoft has decided to strategically take on open-source software as a true competitor according to this article at News.com. Open Source software has long been taking business from such expensive competitors and in the long run that is a good thing for the consumer and businesses.
LAMP is the combination of four things used in combination from the open-source arena:
L is for Linux,
A is for Apache Web Server,
M is for MySql, and
P is for PHP, Perl or Python.
Used in combination, or as a stack in the parlance of the web engineers, they offer a formidible set of capabilities, with much lower risk of virus propogation and much less bloat generating great speed advantages.
Microsoft’s response, according to that article, is to argue that its products are cheaper when you look to the total cost of ownership: maintenance, upgrades, support, etc. In reality, however, I think just the opposite will be true for many organizations and individuals. Further, Microsoft is going to be offering some express or lite versions of software in an effort to cut the up front costs. Don’t fall for it, it is just a hook to eventually force you to buy the more expensive versions down the road. Competition is a good thing when done fairly. So go Microsoft, compete, but compete by doing a better job.
