SCO Licensee Takes Heat from Users

EV1Servers.Net this week told its users that it had their interests in mind when it signed an intellectual-property license with The SCO Group Inc. to use Red Hat Linux. However, that hasnt stopped some of those users from threatening to leave the Web-hosting company over the deal.

On EV1Servers.Nets user forums, a vocal minority of users have stated that they dislike EV1Servers SCO deal so much, they plan to leave the Houston-based Web-hosting firm. According to an informal poll on the site, more than 25 percent of EV1Servers customers will abandon the company for another Web-site provider, while more than 58 percent said they are staying.

Typically, those who are threatening to leave are open-source supporters. But some have more pragmatic reasons: Theyre afraid that EV1Servers, which has gained much of its market share from rock-bottom pricing, may now raise its Linux hosting prices to pay the SCO licensing fees.

Some users have also suggested that EV1Servers is trying to move its users to Windows Server 2003 platforms. They note that Server 2003 is already EV1Servers least-expensive option for Web hosting. Others add that the company co-operated with Microsoft in the fall of 2003 to create a case study that showed Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting version 2.0 combined with Automated Deployment Services (ADS) Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition enabled EV1Servers to deliver faster Web-site deployments than Linux. This study is also available in Microsofts anti-Linux "Get The Facts on Windows and Linux" Web site.

Next page: Ev1Servers CEO defends the SCO deal.

Next: ' Ev1Servers CEO Speaks ' >>