Novell winning at the expense of MSFT's pain...
Microsoft's Damage Control
by Robert Faletra
I have to admit I was getting bored with the whole Microsoft trial. It was
beginning to look worse than the Clinton impeachment.
But that, of course, was before Microsoft's defense took over.
Ever since then, I'm afraid to be out of touch with the antitrust trial for
more than a few hours.
In the early stages, I didn't think much lasting damage would be done to
Microsoft despite all the witnesses that the government used to paint a
picture of take-no-prisoner business tactics.
But the infamous video, shot and orchestrated by Microsoft itself, to me
looks to be the most damaging testimony of all. Once the prosecution
established that computers used in the video were not configured
identically, Microsoft reshot its video in an attempt to prove its argument
that the browser is too tightly entwined in the operating system to
extract. The first video obviously damaged Microsoft's position in the
trial. Even the second video had some uncertainty.
But what does this and the entire trial mean to the channel? On the face
of it, you would assume little or nothing unless Microsoft is restricted in
its future business practices. But if you look a bit deeper, it's presenting
issues in the market and opening opportunities for other vendors that
use integrators to sell competing solutions.
Novell, for instance, is doing better in part due to Microsoft's delays of
Windows 2000, its public-relations disaster resulting from the trial and
Novell's own improvements.
I guess the planets are lining up in the right way for Novell these days.
Improved Novell products are available now, the company has strong
leadership in Eric Schmidt and it continues to court channel partners by
offering profit potential.
I'm not debating whether anyone's product is better than anyone else's
here, but I've talked with enough integrators and IT types to know that
Microsoft is being hurt by the negative publicity surrounding the trial. It is
being hurt in that there are pockets of the market that are more
accepting of alternatives to Microsoft than they were before the trial.
Channel partners are bringing up other options in customer locations
where they may not have in the past.
I can't quantify all this. In fact, if someone were to argue that this sure
isn't being demonstrated by Microsoft's sales numbers, I would have to
agree. But these types of things don't necessarily show up in the
numbers quickly, although I'm by no means arguing that Microsoft is
going to be sucking wind anytime soon as a result of all this.
What I am saying is that the world of technology solutions is made up of
a lot more than just Microsoft. I'm also saying that many of the
integrators that had bought into the Microsoft product push are offering
more choices to their client base in part because of the negative
publicity. Will Microsoft be visibly hurt by all this? Only time will tell. One
thing is clear, the channel needs to figure into any damage control plans
Microsoft decides it needs.
ROBERT FALETRA can be reached via telephone at (516) 733-8612;
Internet: rfaletra@cmp.com; or MCI: 585-5795.
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