Is Microsoft still the right answer?

Former 'Get the Facts' leader leaves Microsoft Martin Taylor, who led Microsoft's anti-Linux campaign, has left the company Elizabeth Montalbano June 21, 2006 (IDG News Service) -- Martin Taylor, best known for his role in leading Microsoft's anti-Linux "Get the Facts" campaign, has abruptly left the company, Microsoft confirmed on yesterday.

"We've made the difficult decision to part ways with Martin, but we don't comment on personnel matters," the company said through its public relations firm, Waggener Edstrom Inc. "We appreciate Martin's contributions at Microsoft over the past 13 years." [Computerworld]

I guess you can only lie to the public for so long before things backfire on you.

There is no question that Windows, both Workstaton and Server have their place in the data center, but there is growing concern over the increasing lack of security, bloat and flexibility offered by the product as more and more dollars become tied up in larger and larger systems that seem to sit idle for more hours of the day than ever before.

As IT shops are expected to do more, the ease of use that is the Windows GUI is beginning to be seen as the obstacle to really getting things done. Why else would there be dozens of books on how to do things by the command line when before it used to be hidden knowledge passed around from system admin to system admin? And with more complex desktops, the simple administration has chewed up more resource and created more companies to ease the burden than any other operating system in history.

It is little wonder, that as the next release of Windows looms, IT managers are beginning to seriously reevaluate their marriage to Microsoft and question whether or not there is a better way to be doing business.