Does Microsoft have any real competition?

Does Microsoft Have any Real Competition? Copyright (c) 2003 Gregory S. Diehl In a word, yes.

And I think they are about to get more.

Microsoft primarily dominates in operating systems and office productivity software.

Windows is going to be the dominant OS for some time. But I think things will get much more interesting with the Novell/SuSE merger. The giant IBM was already behind Linux. (People forget that if IBM's software division were a separate company, it would be number two only to Microsoft.) Now, they face the challenge from a company that knows how to market to the enterprise, which Red Hat does not. SuSE gets the channels and business partners it needs worldwide; Novell can assure its survival beyond NetWare as a competitor to the hated Microsoft. (Novell feels about as strongly about the folks from the Northwest as Sun does.)

And speaking of Sun, they are aggressively pushing StarOffice as an alternative to Microsoft Office. It offers file compatibility, so anyone on a budget may want to at least consider it. Corel is also hanging in there with WordPerfect and other products, and Novell has GroupWise. So there is at least a little competition in office productivity, although admittedly not much. StarOffice is now available in the retail channel, so that may change.

With Sun and IBM pushing Java/J2EE as the platform for Web services, .NET is getting all the competition it can handle. For dynamic Web publishing (updating from a database) I seem to see at least as many pages with .jsp (Java Server Pages) or .php (Hypertext Preprocessor) as I do .asp (Active Server Pages, from Microsoft) on the file name. (If you've ever wondered what those strange things were that were not .htm or .html, that's it!)

There are two areas where Microsoft is not even close to first place.

Most Web servers are Apache running under Linux, not Microsoft's Internet Information Server on a Windows box.

In the database arena, Microsoft really faces stiff competition. IBM is still number one with DB2, and Oracle is close behind. While SQL Server 2000 is much more robust and enterprise-ready than its predecessors, it is still in third place. (Albeit a tighter third place with the scalability and other features of SQL Server 2000.) On the charts with a bullet is MySQL, the Linux of the database world that is gaining more market share in enterprises not needing the features of a DB2 or Oracle.

So, does Microsoft have competition? Yes, even in areas of near-monopoly, there is at least some competition.

About the author: Gregory S. Diehl has almost 35 years experience in applying technology to solve business problems and expand opportunities. He has worked as a systems analyst, programmer, technical writer, Web developer and numerous other roles. A Master CIW Designer, he is currently starting a Web design and development firm in Las Vegas. http://www.gsdweb.net http://www.lonewolfreviews.com webmaster@gsdweb.net

---

Corporate ERP: Microsoft Great Plains For The Plant In Brazil ? Overview For CIO

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains as new ERP for multinational... Read More

OSI Layers Model

IntroductionDuring the early years of our modern computer era, very... Read More

How to Evaluate Staffing Software

If you are in the market for new staffing software,... Read More

Microsoft CRM Implementation for Large Corporation ? overview

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is now approaching the phase of... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Food Processing ? Implementation & Customization Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains might be considered as ERP platform to... Read More

Best Spyware Removers

Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware... Read More

Corporate Accounting System: Microsoft Great Plains ? Overview

Corporate ERP/MRP selection might be tough one, especially considering very... Read More

Microsoft CRM: Implementation, Customization, Support ? Consultant Overview

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the... Read More

Groupware: Avoid the Ad Hoc Shuffle

GroupwareEfforts are continually made to manage the unavoidable ad hoc... Read More

Fast Car Knoppix

Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past... Read More

10 Ways to Learn a Software

Following tips help you to learn a software in lesser... Read More

Business Planning Software

Once a business idea is selected, it is highly recommended... Read More

Managing Stress in the Computer Industry - Five Steps to a Stress-free Life

It would be easy to think, like most people apparently... Read More

Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS) SQL Customization ? Overview for Programmer

Microsoft Retail Management System serves retail single store as well... Read More

Vlans

In order to implement VLANs in a network environment, you'll... Read More

Internet Faxing Service Review

The Internet is reshaping every form of communications medium, and... Read More

Understanding Document Management

The term "document management" and "paperless office" is the subject... Read More

Lotus Domino Implementation and Development: Infrastructure ? Present and Future

Domino server is a buffer between the operation system and... Read More

What You Should Know About Installing Screensavers

Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Accounting/ERP Implementation ? Finance Industry Customization Example

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very generic accounting application... Read More

How Do I Get Rid Of That Darn Spyware?

Ad-Aware and Spybot are probably the two most well known... Read More

Ukraine: a Prospective Player on the World Software Outsourcing Market

The destruction of the Soviet Union about 15 years ago,... Read More

CRM 101: Customer Relationship Management for Beginners

Customer Relationship Management, abbreviated "CRM," is the term for a... Read More

Microsoft CRM Conversation Gateway: VoIP - Implementation & Customization

Microsoft CRM is winning market share step-by-step from such the... Read More

Cisco CCNA Certification: Becoming A Truly Valuable CCNA.

I've been active in the Cisco Certification track for four... Read More

Navision Customization: C/SIDE, C/ODBC, C/FRONT, XBRL ? Development Options

Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More

IT Department Skills to Support Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM

Microsoft Great Plains as ERP and Microsoft CRM as... Read More

How a Bug Challenges to a Software Professional

It is really interesting that a bug can create problem... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: Getting New Users Licenses ? Annual Service Plan FAQ

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Solomon, Navision, Axapta, Microsoft CRM... Read More

These Items Are A Must Before Making The Decision To Purchase Any Off-The-Shelf Software

1. What determines the software price? Is it Per Seat... Read More

Begun, The Browser Wars Have

As Mozilla Firefox nears 10% market share, with well over... Read More

Selecting Corporate ERP: Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains ? Estimation Parameters

As we could imagine, if you are reading this article... Read More

Anti-Virus Software

Anti-virus software is used to find, remove or fix files... Read More