Anti-Unix site powered by Unix

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-872304.html

By Mike Ricciuti
Special to ZDNet News
April 1, 2002, 6:10 AM PT


A Web site sponsored by Microsoft and Unisys as a way to steer big companies
away from the Unix operating system is itself powered by Unix software.
The site, dubbed "We have the way out," runs on Web servers powered by
FreeBSD, an open-source version of Unix, along with the Unix-based Web
server Apache, according to Netcraft, which tracks Web site information.
Both pieces of software compete with Microsoft's Windows operating system.
The Microsoft/Unisys site solicits names and contact information in exchange
for research reports on data center trends.

Representatives at Unisys and Microsoft weren't immediately available for
comment.



The marketing site's use of Unix comes as Microsoft works to get a greater
foothold for its Windows operating system in the enterprise computing
market, where Unix is well entrenched. Unisys partnered with Microsoft to
co-market its large server hardware running Windows as a Unix alternative.

The Web site is just part of Microsoft's renewed marketing and advertising
campaign to undermine Unix, the operating system at the heart of powerful
server lines from rivals Sun Microsystems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Unisys is spending $25 million on the campaign. Microsoft is adding funding
of its own but has declined to say how much.

The "We have the way out" campaign describes Unix as an expensive trap. One
ad reads: "No wonder Unix makes you feel boxed in. It ties you to an
inflexible system. It requires you to pay for expensive experts. It makes
you struggle daily with a server environment that's more complex than ever."

The same ad depicts a scene in which a computer user has painted himself
into a corner with purple paint. Sun's servers are manufactured in a shade
of purple similar to that in the ad.

The 18-month project will include advertisements, technical sales efforts
and other marketing work plugging Unisys' high-end server and Microsoft's
top-end version of Windows--two products that so far have made only their
first steps into the data centers where high-end servers often reside.

The Unisys ES7000 server can accommodate as many as 32 Intel processors and
can be divided into independent "partitions," each with its own operating
system. The Datacenter version of Windows 2000 can run on machines with as
many as 32 processors. These top-end configurations are rare, Unisys has
said, with eight-, 12- or 16-processor partitions more common.