The new Foundations appliance takes on Small Business Server 2008; it's Linux versus Windows, baby.
In the same week, IBM and Microsoft are unleashing new server offerings for small businesses. But their approaches are vastly different. Big Blue has announced a Linux-based server appliance, while Microsoft is releasing Windows-based server software running on third-party servers.
IBM is doing what I've been saying Microsoft should do more of: Software plus hardware plus services. Hardware is the crucially missing component to Microsoft's Software plus Services strategy. Microsoft presumes that partners must do the hardware—that it can't cut them out. IBM's strategy relies heavily on partners, just in a different way.
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