[slantyyz]

what advantages does MSFT have as a server OS?

I would say support for enterprise apps. A lot of enterprise software vendors still target their development for Windows, and don't support Linux well or fail to test with Linux.

[nailer]

If they're Unix apps, they support Linux - RHEL is probably the most popular enterprise Unix for new projects.

[slantyyz]

The problem is really with testing. I know of some vendors who have versions of their SW for Linux, but don't test them --nearly-- as well as they do for their Windows versions, because most of their customers are running Windows.

And that's even before worrying about interoperability with database servers (i.e. testing on outdated *nix ODBC drivers, etc.)

[nailer]

Yeah, but there's vendors who do half assed Windows versions too - Oracle comes to mind. Ultimately the VB/.net shops like BMC do shitty Unix versions, the big iron companies do shitty Windows versions.

[slantyyz]

You got that right. In the end, the target platforms are the vendors prerogative.

Where you really run into problems is selling a weak Unix version into a Windows-hating shops. It ends up being more of a problem than if the vendor just told the customer "you're better off using Windows with our product".

[nailer]

Hate's a strong word, but yes, having a budget for such things in the past, a vendor coming in with an unpackaged app (or some horrible custom non RPM/deb packaging format), with no init scripts, no syslog support, and sales staff who don't understand the bog-standard RHEL or SLES platform to the point where you have to help them with their presentation, can and will guarantee no sale.