Executive Summary:
Linux competition had nearly paralyzed Microsoft when the company hired Bill Hilf, who previously led IBM’s Linux/open-source software (OSS) technical strategy. Hilf’s open-source background has helped Microsoft gain new direction, as a “platform” company with a compatible set of end-to-end technologies.
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Executive Summary:
Linux competition had nearly paralyzed Microsoft when the company hired Bill Hilf, who previously led IBM’s Linux/open-source software (OSS) technical strategy. Hilf’s open-source background has helped Microsoft gain new direction, as a “platform” company with a compatible set of end-to-end technologies.
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The unfortunate tagline for the launch of Windows
Server 2003 was “Do more with less.” Microsoft
never comprehended the irony of that tagline—
but it strikes me as fitting the company’s mood five years
ago. Competition from Linux had Microsoft nearly paralyzed.
The company seemed to be desperately seeking
direction. Now, in 2008, Microsoft has found a direction—
thanks in large part to the people the company hired away
from the Linux world.
In February 2004, Microsoft hired Bill Hilf from
IBM. According to his official biography, Hilf “led
IBM’s Linux/Open Source Software technical strategy
at a world-wide level for the Emerging and Competitive
markets organization.” Hilf’s mission at Microsoft was to
establish a Linux lab. Starting as one server under Hilf’s
desk, the lab has flourished
and expanded—and Hilf’s
Microsoft career has rocketed.
Hilf is now “General
Manager of Platform Strategy,
driving Microsoft’s
platform strategy efforts
across the company. Bill’s
primary focus is to champion
platform initiatives
… while leading long-term strategy planning in the
Windows Server and Tools organization.” That’s a big
change in a position that was, before Hilf, titled simply
“General Manager of Windows Server Marketing.” And
this change signals a reinvigorated sense of direction.
The P Word
The key descriptor for Microsoft’s newfound direction is
the now-ubiquitous word “platform.” How is the concept
of Windows as a platform connected with Hilf’s opensource
background? I talked to Sam Ramji, director of
Platform Technology Strategy, who reports directly to
Hilf and oversees Microsoft’s Open Source Software Lab,
and the Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab in
Cambridge, Mass.
Ramji spoke of insights from the Open Source Software
Lab that are key to Microsoft’s new focus: “We
started having a bigger conversation, which included
not just how do we bridge gaps with Linux, how do we
compare to and compete with Linux, but how do we
look at open source? It’s a greater phenomenon than
operating systems. It’s really about how developers
communicate, about how developers improve technology,
and a different way for users to adopt technology.”
Most important for Microsoft’s concept of its own
business is the idea that the OS is only a piece of the
puzzle, which also includes all the technologies necessary
to create business solutions. By thinking of itself as a “platform”
company that has a compatible set of end-to-end
technologies, Microsoft puts itself in a powerful position.
Not only are there hundreds (if not thousands) of Linux
permutations, but also a huge variety of technologies and
applications are necessary to make an open-source business
solution feasible—and all the pieces aren’t necessarily
compatible. Ramji said, “There’s OS X, Linux, FreeBSD,
Windows, Solaris, AIX, Oracle, SQL, MySQL, Postgres—
there’s whole bunch of technologies underneath it that
may power it in some way. How does all this stuff mix?”
If Microsoft takes on the task of making all the
technologies work together, the company’s competitive
position becomes unmatched. This thinking is at the
heart of what Ramji
calls Microsoft’s
decision to “institutionalize
interoperability.”
Microsoft
realized it can make
money by supporting
non-Microsoft
technologies. Ramji
even sees the future
of Windows Server as being a platform for Linux in
virtual environments. “We’ve always had a technological
grounding, but we’ve added a business focus. Collectively,
we [i.e., Hilf’s open-source team] have gone
from strategists and agitators to business owners. So
interoperability is not just a good idea—it’s actually the
business strategy. I think that shows a lot of Hilf’s rising
star in the company—that institutionalizing interoperability
that’s happening. It says a lot that Bob Muglia
and Steve Ballmer would look at Bill and say, ‘This is
the kind of leader we want to have in charge of our $4.5
billion growth business.’”
Institutionalizing
Interoperability
Hilf’s influence and recognition of virtualization’s power
to open new possibilities will guide the upcoming version
of Windows. Linux has gone from a source of fear,
to a source of optimism, which is even reflected in the
Windows Server 2008 tagline: “Heroes happen here.” (OK,
I admit it’s a typically lame Microsoft tagline. But you have
to agree that it’s more positive than “Do more with less.”
And don’t even get me started on how you could interpret
“institutionalizing interoperability”....)
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