Microsoft spoiling for a Red Hat fight with Web apps on Linux

commentary

Microsoft is apparently going to support Firefox and Safari with its upcoming Office Web Applications (and, hence, Windows alternatives like Mac OS X and Linux).

Yes, those using Internet Explorer and  new balance mx1009 Silverlight will have an enhanced experience, but this is an exceptional step forward--and smart business--for Microsoft.

But what does it mean for Red Hat?

Yes, Red Hat. I'm not suggesting that Re new balance wr790 d Hat's desktop business is threatened because today it doesn't have much of a Linux desktop business. Red Hat has chosen not to compete--at least, not much--on the traditional enterprise desktop.

That's no new balance ww926 t the point. The point is that if Microsoft succeeds in stepping beyond its closed ecosystem and opening up its technology to alternative platforms like Linux, Firefox, etc., it will eventually disrupt Red Hat's U new balance ww811 nix and Weblogic replacement businesses. Today, Red Hat can clean up the wreckage of these overpriced and over-engineered markets. Tomorrow? Well, tomorrow becomes much more difficult if Microsoft outmaneuvers Red new balance cw442  Hat by broadening its appeal beyond Windows.

Microsoft, in other words, is on the offense, not defense.

Not that this is the first salvo. Microsoft's patent-plus-interoperability deal with Novell is new balance mr1123  paying dividends for Novell, as The VAR Guy points out, and hence for Microsoft. That deal was Microsoft's way of painting a bulls-eye on Red Hat.

That deal has helped Novell but hasn't necessarily hurt R new balance mr740 ed Hat. A Microsoft whose technology fits into a wider technology stack, however, is potentially a much bigger threat to Red Hat because, in a way, it undermines one of Red Hat's (and, indeed, any open-source vend new balance mr790 or's) primary selling points: choice.

By allowing would-be customers to choose Microsoft technology a la carte, rather than as a take-it-or-leave-it stack, Microsoft co-opts Linux. Once it has SharePoint, O new balance wr768 ffice, or other applications running on Linux, it will have a much easier time leading customers to the "enhanced" experience with these applications on Windows.

So, what should Red Hat do? It needs to cons new balance mr1223 ider moving in on Microsoft's territory. The time to move is not when the Unix market has completely dissipated. It's not after JBoss has Weblogic and Websphere in retreat. By that time, Microsoft will be knockin new balance 977 g down Red Hat's door.

It's time for Red Hat to go after Microsoft. The good news is that it will have plenty of allies. The bad news is that Microsoft is a much stronger competitor than Red Hat has had to fa new balance 1123 ce in recent times. Game on.

Matt Asay is chief operating officer at Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Prior to Canonical, Matt was general manager of the Americas division and vi 

 ce president of business development at Alfresco, an open-source applications company. Matt brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging 

  open-source business strategies and opportunities. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. Topics: Microsoft, Industry news, Strategy, Red Hat Tags: Red Hat, Microsoft, Office, Web, open source Share: Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Facebook Twitter