Of All the Hurdles to a Merger, View on Technology Is the Highest
,----[ Quote ]
| Skeptics of Microsoft’s ability to eventually digest Yahoo’s infrastructure
| point to the initial embarrassing failure that occurred when Microsoft tried
| to absorb the Hotmail electronic mail service it acquired in 1997.
|
| At the time the service ran on the open-source FreeBSD and Sun Solaris
| versions of the Unix operating system. Microsoft tried to move the service to
| its Windows NT operating system, but that was unsuccessful.
|
| Later it was able to move it to a more advanced version of its Windows Server
| software, but was still chagrined when open-source advocates found that
| FreeBSD was still being used for portions of the service that required
| performance and stability. Microsoft acknowledged that Hotmail’s transition
| took 3 ½ years, but some analysts say they think it took even longer. While
| Microsoft has built its Web services largely using its proprietary tools like
| the .Net programming system, Yahoo has a well-known open-source culture.
|
| Yahoo principally uses FreeBSD, which is well regarded for its stability and
| its strong security.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/technology/18integrate.html?ref=business
How long would it take Microsoft to ruin^Hmigrate Yahoo to some of the
garbageware that ruined Hotmail, as it stands today? Some say that Hotmail
still runs BSD.
Related:
Is Microsoft/Yahoo about Windows' failure as a top server platform?
,----[ Quote ]
| Before my whiney enemies all get up in arms about yours truly once more
| beating up on Microsoft, I'd like to point out that the idea of Microsoft
| buying Yahoo being a tacit admission that Windows can't cut the mustard as a
| top Internet server platform didn't originate with me.
|
| No, the credit, or blame if you prefer, goes to Marcelo Carvalho, an IT
| manager in San Francisco and Damien Hocking, a Linux-Watch reader who brought
| Carvalho's thoughts to my attention.
`----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8001941484.html
|
|
