Steve Ballmer's advise to his customers

The debate about the benefits of open source software over the proprietary ones has been going on for a long time now and is getting hotter by the day. Solution providers as well as enthusiasts from both the camps are always on high-alert and do not miss any chance to counter the other.

In a recent e-mail to its customers and partners Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer has asserted that Windows computing environment is cheaper, more secure and a low-risk proposition when compared to open source solutions like Linux, MySQL etc.

Talking about the security, he commented that the kind of support customers receive from Microsoft in case of a vulnerability is unthinkable in case of any open source solution. Ballmer has stated the example of Equifax Inc., which after a thorough analysis opted for Windows over Linux for cost-benefits.

To support its point the company launched a marketing campaign called "Get The Facts" where in they presented reports from analysts and customer testimonials. These reports raised a doubt, as Microsoft funded them. The company has now started offering unfunded research results to present its case. Said an online report.

Yankee Group reports shows that Windows is a cheaper option as compared to Linux, in cases where an organization has invested hugely in Microsoft solutions or has internal expertise.

Ballmer has supported his claim from Forreter Research study reports as well other third-party data. According to a study conducted by Forrestor Research, five out of fourteen companies consider Windows a cheaper option, however, no further conclusion could be drawn from this report as the others did not have any data. "Few companies know what they're really spending," writes Ballmer.

Ballmer's memo will give a fresh-kick to this fight, as the open-source community will come up with their viewpoint on this.

Talking about security, Microsoft's claim may not be justified as the company has recently released patches for 21 vulnerabilities in its software; there are issues with its Windows XP SP2 also. However, one cannot overlook the support it is providing to its customers to overcome such problems. On the other hand companies like Hewlett-Packard, Novell are promising legal support as well as service to customers that run Linux on HP systems.

According to an analyst with Yankee Group cost and security cannot be considered as deciding factors as they are very case specific and the balance may swing in either direction and past one to two years Microsoft has been handling all such issues very proactively.