Forrester: Windows Platform Bests Linux for App Development

Martin Taylor, Microsofts recently appointed Linux point man, isnt wasting any time making good on his promise to use third-party analyst studies to make his case that Windows provides customers with more value than Linux.

On Tuesday, Forrester Researchs Giga Information Group unit is expected to release the results of a study commissioned by Microsoft finding that applications developed and deployed on Windows are cheaper to develop, deploy and maintain than those developed on J2EE/Linux platforms.

Forrester initially released the results of the study, which it conducted this summer, to some of its client base on August 12.

It is not clear how much Microsoft paid Forrester to conduct the study. Forrester representatives did not return a request for comment. Microsoft officials declined to comment on this story before the study is released Tuesday.

In July, Microsoft platform strategist Taylor said he hoped to shift Microsofts rhetoric vis-à-vis open source to be more about “facts,” and less about emotions. He said at that time that he would not hesitate to commission third-party studies in order to make Microsofts case.

“The primary conclusion of the study is that Microsoft offers a substantial cost advantage over J2EE/Linux as a development platform for the applications considered,” the Forrester study claims.

Forrester cites the combination of J2EE application servers and Unix databases as being more costly and complex when measured against comparable Microsoft solutions. The Cambridge, Mass.-based market researcher claims that Microsoft .Net development tools reduce the labor costs associated with the development and maintenance of custom applications. Large and mid-size organizations can between 25 percent and 28 percent in terms of development, deployment and maintenance costs by basing their solutions on the Microsoft platform versus an open-source one, the Forrester study says.

For more, check out Microsoft Watch.