In an effort to better understand its main source of competition, Microsoft has deployed Linux and other open-source software in a test center that's typically used by its business customers to experiment with Microsoft's own products. At its Enterprise Engineering Center in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft has installed the Linux operating system, Apache Web server, MySQL database, and Open LDAP directory-access software on Intel-based computers, according to Martin Taylor, the executive who recently assumed responsibility for Microsoft's strategy for competing against Linux.

The project was started in May with an initial goal of determining the effort involved in building the kind of open-source platform that might be found in a typical business environment. "It's an opportunity for learning for us," Taylor says. The goal is to understand "what can you do and how can you do it" using open-source software, he says. Next, Microsoft plans to create a comparable system using Windows and its own server products to see how Windows and Linux match up side-by-side in a variety of workload scenarios.