If Microsoft can't beat outright Unix and Linux, it can at least improve its interoperability with these operating systems. And from Redmond's standpoint, one of the best ways to do so is via its Services for Unix (SFU) technology.
Faster performance via better performance tuning, faster NFS client/server functionality and faster NIS server support. (In SFU, NIS server support allows users to set up a server as an NIS Master Server. It also consolidates Unix/Linux and Windows identity servers into a single user object under Active Directory.)
Microsoft officials declined to comment on the 3.5 release when this article was posted on January 12. On January 13, however, the company agreed to talk.
Dennis Oldroyd, director of marketing with the WIndows Server Group's application platform marketing team, confirmed that Microsoft will make SFU 3.5 available as a downloadable add-on to Windows Server. Unlike the SFU 3.0 release, however, SFU 3.5 will be free, Oldroyd said. (SFU 3.0 was priced at $99 per client or server.)
"We see this as part of the value proposition of the Windows platform," said Oldroyd, explaining the new pricing.
In the post-SFU 3.5 timeframe, it's looking like Microsoft is going to build SFU right into the Windows Server platform.
Microsoft paid SCO last year for the right to license Unix. It wasn't wholly apparent then, but Microsoft also paid SCO for the rights to incorporate SFU functionality directly into the Windows operating system.
Oldroyd refused to discuss features or distribution plans for future SFU releases. But he did say that Microsoft is "looking at ways of making the SFU and Windows (code) as seamless as possible in the future."
SFU 3.5 isn't the only missive that Microsoft is expected to launch vs. the Unix/Linux camp this month.
Both Microsoft and its primary Windows data-center partner, Unisys, are looking to turn their myriad Unix migration efforts into more consolidated campaigns, says Bill Jefferis, director of migration solutions for Unisys.
Jefferis says Unisys is looking to unveil a formalized migration program on or around January 13. The company is planning to meld all of its various Unix migration collateral and initiatives into a single, comprehensive program, he says, that will kick off with an eight-city tour for North American customers, press and analysts.
He says Unisys is working in lockstep with Microsoft to build a concerted migration campaign. In fact, the Redmond software maker could end up launching its own formalized migration campaign in conjunction with Unisys, according to Jefferis.
"They [Microsoft] are doing theirs under the 'increasing operational efficiency' theme," he says. "They've already done some briefings internally and with their regional offices."
This article is an updated version of content from the December 8 and 18 issues of the Microsoft Watch newsletter.
