Sun Microsystems yesterday announced several Linux versions of its products at the LinuxWorld Expo in New York, but also took time to refute the recent Fear the Penguin report by investment bankers Goldman Sachs. The bank"s report predicted that Linux would become the dominant operating system on the higher-end servers of the enterprise data centre, where mission-critical functions are run and where most IT budget is spent.
"The idea that Linux obliterates Unix and leaves Windows unscathed is dead wrong," said Jonathan Schwartz, vice president of software at Sun. "It is not what I see in the marketplace and not what I know will be the long-term outcome."
According to Schwartz, Microsoft will be the key casuality in the uptake of Linux.
"Chief information officers are looking for cost reduction; that means moving to standards that must be programming standards and not just the operating system standards of Microsoft," he said.