Archrivals IBM and Microsoft will formally roll out software and technical support programs at the LinuxWorld Exposition this week in hopes of luring corporate and third-party developers either toward or away from Linux environments, respectively. IBM"s Microsoft NT-to-Linux-Migration Program will be available for the most part through its business partners. It will offer tools and training classes to help wean developers from NT to Linux. IBM executives believe the program"s introduction is well-timed given Microsoft"s plans to discontinue the availability of NT by year"s end.
"There are millions of users still using NT, but technical fixes go away at the end of this year. If they are going to get off NT, they will need help figuring out the hard decisions about what new hardware and applications to buy," said Adam Jollans, Linux strategy manager at IBM"s software group. Hardware cost is another reason Jollans believes the programs will appeal to NT users. By migrating to Linux, users and developers have a broader choice of hardware platforms, ranging from low-cost Intel servers to several different Unix or IBM proprietary platforms, all of which are interoperable.