Sun Microsystems announced Friday that it has moved to a new phase of legal and technical cooperation with longtime foe Microsoft that will involve a payment of $1.95 billion to Sun, reports News.com. The timing of the Microsoft-Sun agreement could be seen as a smokescreen to mitigate the continued bad financial and layoff news for Sun, says NewsForge.
Sun Settles with Microsoft, Announces Layoffs
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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46 Comments
2004-04-02 8:55 pm
Anonymous
“Sun and Microsoft have a common enemy: Linux,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst Enderle Group in San Jose, California. “They are seeing each other as less of a threat and, together, facing a common threat.”
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/breaking/breakingnewsarticle.asp?f…
2004-04-02 9:02 pm
Anonymous
“Later, at a news conference in San Francisco, McNealy and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said customers have asked that the rivals “tone down the rhetoric,” and work on interoperability.
“Maybe we’ve grown up, maybe our customers have grown up,” McNealy said. “The message is that we are well established in the enterprise — wherever we go Microsoft is there, wherever they go we are there.””
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3334991
2004-04-02 9:04 pm
Anonymous
“Linux penetration on desktops has a lot more to do with application compatibility and ease of use. No matter what distro, Linux is a bear in comparison to Winodws and Mac. Please try to tell my sister that her daughter’s Barbie software *can* work on a Linux box, if you install Wine or WineX and hold your tongue just right. Yeah, that’ll work…”
Well, call them lazy if you will, but I imagine porting “Barbie software” is probably at the bottom of OSS community’s list.
2004-04-02 9:16 pm
Anonymous
ROFL :
#1 Linux costs more
Ghm… It costs less, it is free, even with support fees it is still cheaper than windows
#2 Customer Needs OSS
He does actualy, he[depending on the situation]
#3 Linux has lower HW req.
Windows XP
P 233, 64RAM, Recomended 300+ Mhz 128 RAM
RH Linux 9.0
P 400+Mhz, 64 ram, 192Ram for GUI
Still ROFL…
WinXP on 233?? Recomended 300+ ? On my friends 450MHz Piii machine with 128 RAM, XP was so sluggish, that only a 128 [total 256] RAM upgrade helped, On the other hand, RH will work fine on a P 400 with 192Ram
2004-04-02 9:21 pm
Anonymous
Thanks for pointing out this article.
That was precisely my thesis. It is obvious to anyone that cares to look that Sun is between a rock and a hard place.
The reason they called the Java Desktop System (JDS) by that name is so that they can switch from Linux to Solaris and continue to call it by the same name, which is what they intend to do.
People really need to understand that Sun ain’t no friend of ours. They began to offer Linux servers because customers demanded it, simply because they did not want to be tied into a proprietary OS with proprietary hardware.
If the SUN’s management had some brains, they would focus on hardware, placed their bets on Linux and put Solaris in maintenance mode for those that really want to run it. I still maintain that Solaris is a very good OS for some very limited scenarios, but how will it compare to Linux one, two, three, four and five years down the road?
Eventually you are wasting a ton of resources that they could be using to build services higher-up-the-Linux stack. They could also improve their hardware and face the other real challenge that they are going to have a hardtime facing: Intel (x86).
2004-04-02 9:23 pm
Anonymous
Red Hat 9 will work great on that machine, but the good news is that Linux hardware requirements continue to go down. Fedora Core II and Mandrake 10 are a hell of a lot faster than they were on the same hardware, according to my tests.
2004-04-02 10:00 pm
Anonymous
All that happened was Microsoft bailed Sun out, similar to what it did with Apple in 1997 with that agreement. Sun got more because they had more lawsuits in the works and Microsoft curtailed them. I still dont think Open Sourcing Java will help Sun compete. As for the Linux desktop, more work needs to be done before it achieves the usage Microsoft Windows has.
2004-04-02 10:00 pm
Anonymous
Sow that the SCO suite has proven itself to be a joke, do you folks not find it funny that Microsoft would throw Sun a 2 billion dollars bone that includes cross-licensing of patents?
So here’s the strategy for Microsoft. Try to capture as much business from Linux as possible and throw SUN after the Unix die-hards that are switching to Linux. If that doesn’t work, either of them can sue a Linux vendor for patent infringement and both of them will be inmmune through cross-licensing.
Litigation around Linux is just beginning. These dinosaurs are heavy and will go down with a stump. In the process, they will vitiate our legal system and engage in all kinds of anti-competitive activities designed to prevent Linux from reaching the end-user desktop. You see, by the time Longhorn ships Microsoft will find itself with a very credible competitor both on the server and desktop fronts. This has not been the case for years.
Time to get back to work.
2004-04-02 10:05 pm
Anonymous
The reason Dell’s “Linux Initiative” didn’t work was because it was barely there. They offered little selection and barely advertised it. Just like now they offer desktop systems without Windows. Sure, but its almost a negligible difference in price (around $20) and you have little say in the customization. For instance the Dimension series. Dell only offers 1 choice for the Dimension series, the 2400n. It only comes in a 2.4 Celeron, and integrated video. I also only have the choice of a 16x DVD or a 48x CD-ROM. Check it out yourself:
Dimension 2400: http://catalog.us.dell.com/CS1/cs1page2.aspx?br=1&c=us&cs=04&fm=104…
Dimension 2400n: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W…
The “n” series page: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/desktops_n?c=…
“And companies such as Dell dont want to go too near selling Linux as a replacement for Windows, since then Microsoft will raise its price for Windows for these companies.”
Since MS was convicted as a Monopoly using illegal tactis such as this to keep its Monopoly it is such banned from these practices. If they tried this, they could get fined considerably by the US, and if it didn’t get fined, I would be mailing letters to my congressman to make it happen or my vote goes elsewhere.
2004-04-02 10:37 pm
Anonymous
“The reason Dell’s “Linux Initiative” didn’t work was because it was barely there. They offered little selection and barely advertised it.”
Same thing with HP, it seems.
I stumbled across this at Cnet.com first:
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/MiddleFrame.asp?page=config&Produc…
But I don’t remember seeing it advertised and not easy to find on the site. It’s hidden better than the average teenager’s stash of adult magazines..
2004-04-02 10:57 pm
Anonymous
Looking into the visible future, I don’t see anything for SUN. It will be a slow death, but sun definitely is dying.
2004-04-02 11:07 pm
Anonymous
Lately, I have been recieving through emails offers to buy Windows 2000 & Windows XP (also Pro, and other
products) for under $50. Of course, the offer isn’t directly from Microsoft, but I have been wondering whether those offers are to attract more users and offset future losses.
2004-04-02 11:09 pm
Anonymous
“It will be a slow death, but sun definitely is dying.”
imo, sun would have (had) a chance to survive and even to prosper, if they would’ve taken sides with the oss-community, means embracing its momentum (open standards etc.)
instead, they have obviously chosen sides with microsoft, and somehow i guess i know who will be the one who will go down in this relationship…
again, imo, this “strategy” is very shortsighted and will led them nowhere…
for some time, i thought that sun had a strategy, but i now think they have not (at least the right one…). it was the last corporate fortress against total domination of mfst, but it seems that novell and maybe red hat will be its successors…
2004-04-02 11:33 pm
Anonymous
I bought one with RH AS 2.1. Yeah, they’re selling servers not desktops.
and the small and large business pages.
2004-04-02 11:54 pm
Anonymous
MS has everyone by the %$@#. I kind of sad that SUN, Apple, IBM, NOVELL et al. don’t team together better. Divide and conquer I suppose. I would love to see OSX gui on SUSE Linux, with hardware from IBM, APPLE, and SUN with NDS. Dream on ….
2004-04-03 12:02 am
Anonymous
Am I the only one who is totally confused by this crap? Isn’t Sun selling Linux? Aren’t they selling StarOffice, leading the development of OpenOffice? Or have I just been dreaming the past 4 or 5 years?
2004-04-03 12:24 am
Anonymous
Am I the only one who is totally confused by this crap? Isn’t Sun selling Linux? Aren’t they selling StarOffice, leading the development of OpenOffice? Or have I just been dreaming the past 4 or 5 years?
Which “crap” are you referring to? The pseudo-prophetic crap spewing out on this thread? Because all I see is Microsoft and Sun trying to cooperate outside the courtrooms.
2004-04-03 12:41 am
Anonymous
most of the comments here nonsense. this is just a result of a settlement of a dispute , not that Msft is buying or bribing Sun. in corporate world this is not a bad thing at all. i see no problem about future of java , linux or star office. this settlement is mostly sun’s advantage, however, i tend to see stg sinister in all the actions of microsoft, so i talk no further for now.
2004-04-03 2:02 am
2004-04-03 3:55 am
Anonymous
Sun is an interesting company. They seem to have turned themselves around. Offering many new unexpected products recently. I am impressed.
But does anyone have a clue what will sell in this economy or when/if the economy will improve? What happened? Did everyone get depressed? Have y’all been watching CNN? 
2004-04-03 3:59 am
Anonymous
I see a lot of Laker fans, Celtics fans, and Bulls fans, but I rarely see a basketball fan around here anymore.
P.S. Hopefully only you “basketball” fans got that, and that went over everyone else’s head. It’d make it easier to identify you at least.
2004-04-03 4:59 am
Anonymous
if java is open source, how in the heck does that help them compete directly with MS? sure it could possibily compete with .Net, but why would sun care then? they could just get a version of .Net for solaris. It would be the OS community then, not sun.
2004-04-03 5:54 am
2004-04-03 6:55 am
Anonymous
last quarter sales were up yet it had a loss. They need to reorganize themselves, which they announced today. I expect the next quarter to be another loss. Then the quarter after that youll probably see profitability.
sun’s deal with M$ is a sneaky one. not only did they get a huge settlement and avoided lawyer fees but they are going to collaborate. I’m guessing sun will take core windows technologies and possibility use it against microsoft. I don’t think Sun Java desktop system is going to sit ontop of SuSE exclusively anymore. It will be pushed on a solaris version. They may just use alot of windows technologies to boost solaris.
This is a bad deal for microsoft, a great deal for sun. Sun still hates M$ and you can tell by them appointing their software VP as President and COO.
Open Source software is a threat to all software companies, and when Open source software companies promote it they may gain in the short term but will most likely fail in the long turn. For instance, redhat wasnt all that great with redhat linux then moved to redhat enterprise linux – boom instant successs. Their strong brand name and support gained popular buys. You’ll probably see versions of RHEL with all the trademarks and art stripped and special service updaters other than RH that are compatible (there already is)
Sun is doing better than most of you actually think. They suck at marketing. mark tolliver better watch his job because hes in hot water.
Darnet, I just want a SkyOS Desktop + Server
2004-04-03 8:54 am
Anonymous
The settlement is basically the prelude to the death of Sun.
The new President is Microsoft’s hired guy. This is the guy who spent money on a SCO license. All part of the Microsoft game.
In the near future, Sun will stand up and say Microsoft’s lines about intellectual property. Jonathan will go on and on about Sun and how they invented so much of Linux, etc. As Microsoft basically owns and controls both SCO and Sun now, their legal position to firebomb Linux is stronger.
Although Microsoft is maneuvering themselves into what they feel is a stronger IP position, they still don’t understand that all their IP is open to question no matter how many rinky dink UNIX companies they control with their blood money.
As for Sun… after Sun lays off all the people, gets some cash from Microsoft, and the stock goes up, I would dump it.
2004-04-03 10:35 am
Anonymous
I believe that this definitely confirms that the open source community should not use Java for developing it’s software. At least with Mono the situation is rather clear. A couple of good lawyers can determine what the legal situation of Mono is. With Java you are dependent on a company that cannot make up his mind.
2004-04-03 12:18 pm
Anonymous
This whole thread could be nicely deleted, to protect the innocent from it’s sheer stupidity. All those that wrote that Sun is now friends with MS are either lieing through their teeth or just plain silly. Did you forget that Sun has the lergest number of non-microsoft desktops out there, after Apple?
Check this out:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115485,00.asp
And this:
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20031117S0015
and now tel me, with a straight face, that Sun is MS’ friend. I dare you.
The truth is, deprecated little Sun that the Linux zealots loved to bash (penis envy, as Solaris is still the far better OS), Sun that has been systematically accused of not using open standards/technologies (even though the Java API is readily accessible and excellently documented, even though the SPARC platform is truly open and controlled by a community process, even though the sourcecode for Solaris is available in a community program), Sun that has been named as the Linux enemy – this same Sun is spearheading the adoption of Linux on the desktop.
For the average Linux zealot, that must hurt beyond comprehention. I can only imagine the cognitive dissonance: “head explodes”.
2004-04-03 12:32 pm
Anonymous
SUN needs a new CEO, with a new fresh vision aka Steve Jobs otherwise I don’t give them so much years anymore, I work full time on Solaris and I like it on Servers, but Apple proved to that you can make UNIX as userfriendly as Microsoft. Forget about JDS it has a long long long way to go and the market don’t wait if they have cheer better alternatives.
2004-04-03 2:26 pm
Anonymous
Paragraph from an article on Techweb (http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20040402S0010):
‘In addition, the agreement means Sun and Microsoft can now concentrate on the “larger, looming threat for both companies in the mid- to long-term, and that’s Linux and its biggest supporter, which is IBM,” Kraft said.’ (Jason Kraft, financial analyst for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc.)
I don’t think that mr. Kraft is a Linux zealot.
2004-04-03 3:12 pm
Anonymous
Alot of customers are waiting on multiprocessor Opteron servers loaded with Solaris 10. They’ve stemmed the flow of their core customer base, however, new customers are waiting on their next big offering. As I said previously, wait till Solaris is out, give it a year, and if things haven’t improved by the end of 2005, then you can write SUN off, until then I would wait before counting those eggs.
2004-04-03 5:08 pm
Anonymous
I read through almost all of the press releases that came out from Sun yesterday, and yet I couldn’t quite find the one that said Microsoft now owns Sun, or that Microsoft now has a controlling interest in Sun.
Maybe I’m missing something?
I did find one or two where a couple of all-knowing high-and-mighty “financial analysts” — who also amazingly understand the IT world inside and out — explain to the little people of the world how this is Sun and MS “teaming up to go after Linux”.
Talk about paranoia.
J
2004-04-03 11:39 pm
Anonymous
“and now tel me, with a straight face, that Sun is MS’ friend. I dare you.”
(Ofcourse not. But there is a lot of difference between enemy, neutral, friend, and good friend. Sun’s best friend is money / profit. Not Linux, FLOSS
or Microsoft.)
“as Solaris is stifar better OS”
Please show us why.
“Sun that has been systematically accused of not using open
momstandards/technologies (even though the Java API is readily accessible and excellently documented, even though the SPARC platform is truly open and controlled by a community process, even though the sourcecode for Solaris is available in a community program)”
I know one case where those who have accused Sun of this are right OpenBSD and Sun’s UltraSparc III:
http://www.deadly.org/article.php3?sid=200307144228
http://www.deadly.org/article.php3?sid=20021205015133
http://www.deadly.org/article.php3?sid=20021125231440
All too easy…
2004-04-03 11:47 pm
Anonymous
It’s also interesting that this happened so close after the EC rulings…
Groklaw analysis: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040402205112190
Newsforge analysis: http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/04/04/02/189218.shtml?tid=137&ti…
ITMJ analysis: http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/article.pl?sid=04/04/02/1849228
2004-04-04 12:21 am
2004-04-04 1:56 am
Anonymous
“Sun that has been systematically accused of not using open
momstandards/technologies (even though the Java API is readily accessible and excellently documented, even though the SPARC platform is truly open and controlled by a community process, even though the sourcecode for Solaris is available in a community program)”
I know one case where those who have accused Sun of this are right OpenBSD and Sun’s UltraSparc III:
http://www.deadly.org/article.php3?sid=200307144228
http://www.deadly.org/article.php3?sid=20021205015133
http://www.deadly.org/article.php3?sid=20021125231440
Let’s get one thing straight. SPARC is an open platform see sparc.org. Fujitsu also makes SPARC cpus and pays no royalties to Sun. UltraSPARC is Suns implementation of the SPARCV9 architecture. Sun may or may not choose to distribute documentation for it’s SPARC implementation. That does not make it not based on Open standards. Sun does garauntee that any program compiled for the sparcv9 instructions set will run unmodified on a UltraSPARC III and that implies open standards compilance.
Also the OpenBSD dispute is old news circa 2002. Sun did give David Miller the documentation for the USIII
“David Miller never got sun4c working on UltraLinux because he punted on the virtual cache alias problem. I think he could not believe someone
would design hardware so bizzare, but this is back in the days when
mmu TLB’s were just VERY EXPENSIVE 12ns SRAM chips on the board.
And it was quite apparent from Torek and my code how the sun4c virtual
cache aliasing should be handled. Yet he did not copy our code. It
was too difficult. I know he spent countless hours trying to figure
it out from our code. Yet he did not get it working, and punted, and
got his US3 manual under NDA and moved on and worked on those machines
instead…
The same applies in sparc64 land. Now, there’s no way we can look at
what he did _with_ documentation, and figure out how it could apply to
us. There’s always people who suggest it is possible, but the pain is
so high, it’s just not worth it. Especially when the Linux kernel’s
interface with hardware is detailed about as well as the Linux manual
pages. Especially when Linux is famous for stuff like: writereg(0x4,
0xff01);
Theo de Raadt “
http://kerneltrap.org/node.php?id=568
They can always look at the linux source and figure it out but they won’t. To be fair the mmu and VM area are very complex and I can understand and ecspecially from someone elses code. I can understand why they need the document. But the fact is Sun has disclosed the USIII documentation to the linux community.
2004-04-04 3:13 am
Anonymous
For its part, Sun has agreed to license the Windows desktop system communication protocols — which is interesting in light of all the time and money Sun has invested in the Java Desktop System — and said it will work closely with Microsoft to improve the interoperability of the Java and .NET platforms. Cross-licensing agreements will be involved, and a Windows certification for Sun’s new Xeon-based servers was also announced.
I am not going to tear down all the other links you posted. But all I can say is that all you have posted are articles that draw conclusions on statements made by third parties like analysts and journalists.
To take newsforge’s take and decipher it in a different way. MS and Sun agree to make Java interoporate with .NET. MS agrees to make java available in the next Windows update. Sun licences some desktop protocol from Ms so it can incorporate it in thier products. Did it occur to you that Sun might bundle those products with thier Java Desktop System (based on linux) To give them a competitive edge over say IBM or Redhat or Novell who also plan on selling linux desktops. But no all the linux evangelists must claim that the Sun Ms deal is a fight against linux.
Two companies resolved thier difference and decided to cooperate, In business terms I would call it a win-win negotiation. Sun can not afford to go into constant legal battles with MS and Ms can’t keep abusing its monopoly as they have seen with the EU deal. May be they just though that it might be in thier future interests to forge a deal with thier sworn enemies so it looks like they have learnt thier lessons. Only time will tell how MS and Sun’s relationships will prevail. Please let’s stop the conspiracy theories.
2004-04-04 5:39 am
Anonymous
Lately, I have been recieving through emails offers to buy Windows 2000 & Windows XP (also Pro, and other
products) for under $50. Of course, the offer isn’t directly from Microsoft, but I have been wondering whether those offers are to attract more users and offset future losses.
Are you kidding? Right next to the offers for generic viagra, right? They are more likely than not stolen copies, or site liscensed copies being sold as retail.
The subject line implies Sun is at fault. In fact, Microsoft is at fault and is paying up.
It should read “Microsoft Settles with Sun.”
We already know that Sun and Microsoft are scared out of their wits by Linux, so this settlement is nothing new, particularly if we consider that both Sun and Microsoft are SCO supporters, I mean, licensees.
The real news is that they are bleeding money like crazy. If you read the article and know a bit about accounting, you will realize that rather than use the settlement money as a one-time payment to offset current losses, they plan to spread it out over a number of quarters to pad future potential loses. This shows that Sun has very little faith in its own future.
From the article:
“For its fiscal third quarter, which ended Sunday, Sun expects revenue of $2.65 billion and a net loss of $710 million to $810 million, or 23 cents to 25 cents per share. The loss includes charges of about $350 million for an increase in the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets and about $200 million to restructure its work force and real estate, Sun said.
Excluding the charges, the loss would have been $200 million to $260 million, or 6 to 8 cents per share. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thompson First Call was less pessimistic: a loss of 3 cents per share on revenue of $2.85 billion.
The company says it has more than 35,000 employees worldwide, so the layoffs account for about 9 percent of its work force. The job cuts will affect all divisions and geographic areas, McGowan said. The majority of cuts will take place by the end of September, he added. Sun already had cut 8,500 employees in two major layoffs in 2001 and 2002.”
I give Sun about 5 more years before it’s bought out. Only saving craze would be if everyone got fiberoptic lines to their homes in the next few years and they could rent you app space in their sun-rays servers for a few dollars a month. Somehow I don’t see that happening…
And Java won’t save them unless they turn it into the defacto language that for desktop apps. .NEt seems to be winning the battle for mindshare already. Real shame as I happen to like Java and believe that it could really make a huge difference to our computing if it was in a better stweward’s hands, those of the open source community.
For further reference on the Sun-SCO relationship, read this piece by David Berlind.
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/Could_Sun_hold_…
For SUN’s initial SCO FUD, read this among many of the articles that they put out:
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/0,2000061733,20276755,00.htm
Looks like Sun now has some cash on hand to keep themselves afloat but for how long and how much would be invested in their Linux/Open Source based products?
…since all those zealots in OS News thought SUN was doing fine, with 5 billion in the bank et al…
It seems, building on silly upon silly decision, it had to come to this:
“On the other hand, the announcement of the big handshake comes at a crucial moment for Sun, which announced its quarterly financial results at the exact same time. And they’re not good.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based corporation is estimating a net loss of between $750 million and $810 million — prior to some restructuring and tax asset charges — on revenue of $2.65 billion, far more than Wall Street had been told to expect. The final loss in the quarter ending March 28 will be in the $200 million to $260 million range. Sun has now announced losses in 11 of the last 12 quarters.
Sun also said it would close two major manufacturing operations in the UK and lay off 3,300 employees worldwide. ”
We already know that Sun and Microsoft are scared out of their wits by Linux,
There’s always at least one OS zealot in every thread, isn’t there?
MS is scared of Linux? Yeah, it’s really threatened by it’s near negligible percentage of the home and corporate desktop.
In fact, it is SUN which is scared of Linux, and rightly so, because it makes their OS offerings obsolete. And their hardware is not that needed, either.
So, there.
how much would be invested in their Linux/Open Source based products?
Probably not much. If there’s one defining characteristic of Sun’s linux strategy, it’s that they’re straddling the fence like a pro. One moment they love it and they’re embracing it, the next it’s a plague and Solaris is the one true way.
Combine their linux management strategy with their java management strategy (practically nonexistant), and I say Sun won’t be around all that much longer. It’s a shame really. Sun Microsystems is one of the most brilliant engineering bodies in the world today. They invented Java, one of the most flexible and scalable development environments on the planet, they wrote solaris, one of the most robust and secure unixes in existence, and not only did they match Microsoft on the desktop scene, but they’re now working to surpass them with the GLASS environment. However, I can’t help being a little pessimistic…this is a company full of some of the brightest most ingenious people out there, but there’s virtually no focus on marketing or product positioning. As great as all this technology is, they’re not DOING anything with it.
Intel is probably more to blame than Linux, Sun does not make money on Solaris, they make money on hardware. There is currently a huge movement in the market right now to Intel Xeon processors. When Intel released a 64 bit Xeon it is going to get much uglier for sun and “Java Desktop” is not going to save them. Sun keeps changing it’s mind becasue they are scrambling to try and save the buisness.
MS is scared of Linux? Yeah, it’s really threatened by it’s near negligible percentage of the home and corporate desktop.
Ahh, I guess microsoft write up things like this for fun?
http://members.microsoft.com/partner/salesmarketing/opensource/disc…
Even though microsoft hasn’t been threatened much for the average joe home user it is feeling alot of preassure coming in from the enterprise/cooperate desktop and server market. Btw, this is where most of thier revenues comes in from anyhow, since most of the average joe home users just stick to whatever OS comes by default installed on thier machine. Meaning they get the windows that comes with thier Dell/HP/Gateway which those companies buy at severly reduced prices anyhow.
This is why open source has such a hard time penetrating that market since it either comes installed on the machine or the user wont install it themselves. And companies such as Dell dont want to go too near selling Linux as a replacement for Windows, since then Microsoft will raise its price for Windows for these companies.
Ahh, I guess microsoft write up things like this for fun?