Second source, not open source, is the key

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Would you prefer Red Hat lock-in?: Red Hat and lock-in

You wrote:
Actually, Sun would LIKE to make the case but fails. Redhat used to be the default until they decided that they would no longer support a free version and would be focused on the server side; people wanting Red Hats free version are referred to a community driven Fedora project.

This alone caused TONS of Linux enthusiasts to start switching to other distros; Mandrake and SUSE have noted significant increase in sales since RedHat changed their business model.

Small point, but Red Hat does issue Fedora.

Important point, which free distribution of Linux is used doesn't matter.
People are paying for Red Hat's proprietary / open source mix. That's how the company has managed to achieve profitability.

Once they've paid for the Red Hat package, they have a difficult time switching.
You could call that Red Hat lock-in, but I have to believe that other companies, seeing that it takes becoming a proprietary company with some donated labor to make a profit, will make the same move.

Novell didn't purchase SuSE as a charitable act. Maybe SuSE couldn't make proprietary software fast enough. Novell doesn't have that problem.

Microsoft and servers

You wrote:
So though you may call it acceptable and Microsoft funded reports may say it is acceptable, the stats and adoption of their software on the server side of things does not appear that the industry uses the same definition of the word 'acceptable' as you.

Well, you remember the sales reports.
Microsoft with 35% of the market with a bullet.
On a percentage basis Linux is growing faster. But on a unit basis Microsoft has been doing better.
And it's worth noting the way Unix server sales have stagnated. From that I get the implication there's a switch from Unix to Linux because it's cheaper and the staff doesn't have to be retrained too substantially.
We don't have good data about switches/new server installations, to settle the point.
But I think it's reasonable to conclude that there has not been a wholesale rejection of Microsoft on the server side.; Posted by: Anton Philidor Posted on: 06/17/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use