More Skills, Partners, and Application Choice

For each IT solution that you plan and implement, you’re faced with a variety of decisions:

What application best meets our business requirements?
Do we have the in-house skills to implement? Can we hire the right skilled resources?
Can I find partners that will help me navigate planning and deployment based on real experience with companies, and scenarios, like ours?

The server OS platform you choose directly impacts every other downstream decision you have to make—whether deploying a new application, finding a partner, or securing skilled resources and technical support.

The Microsoft ecosystem of applications, partners, and highly skilled IT resources provides customers with the most choice.

The Windows platform is supported by:

Thousands of applications.
750,000 Microsoft partners.
More than 450,000 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) professionals
More than 6 million developers.
The largest ISV community in the world.
Compare a wide range of free and paid support options for Windows and Red Hat

Here you’ll find links to partner, training and developer resources, and customer case studies that illustrate how other companies have evaluated Choice as part of their platform decisions.


	Related Case Studies Fidelity National Financial By deploying Windows Server 2008 rather than a Linux-based solution, Fidelity National Financial was able to decrease its operating costs and take advantage of its employees' familiarity with Windows products. Read the Case Study INRA INRA gained the ability to involve more scientists in its work and to increase productivity because of the easy integration between the operating system and Microsoft development and office tools. Read the Case Study Tokyo Institute of Technology Tokyo Tech researchers at the GSIC now have access to more configuration tools with Windows HPC Server 2008. Read the Case Study Dawning Information Industry Company Dawning Information Industry Company improves performance and manageability while reducing network latency by switching from Linux to Windows HPC Server 2008. Read the Case Study ZNet India By eliminating its Linux solution, ZNet India will reduce the complexity and time required to manage a heterogeneous environment. Read the Case Study


	Industry Research Hewitt Windows appears to have an edge in the talent market from both availability and cost standpoints. Read the Report Hewitt Though the Linux partner network is growing, there are gaps—especially with respect to number and quality of vendors, consistent technical support, and certified talent. Read the Report Datamonitor This white paper explores why ISVs make the platform decisions that they do based on four years of on-going research of over 8,500 ISVs in 2007 alone and a new behavioral study of a subset of 200 ISVs conducted around platform adoption in September 2007. Read the Report


	Leverage the Ecosystem Compare Support Options Compare free and paid support options for Windows Server and Red Hat. Learn More Find a Partner Find a Microsoft Partner near you that provides business solutions, including resellers, services, independent software vendors, training providers, and hardware manufacturers. Learn More TechNet Solve technical problems, and build your technical skills with updates, including resource discs, service packs, deployment guides, and utilities Learn More Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Get access to Microsoft developer tools, operating systems, servers, and productivity applications, including the latest evaluation and beta software. Learn More Get Certified Become a Microsoft Certified Professional and take the next step to develop and hone your skills. Learn More


	CIO Interview John Bowden, Lifetime Products: “We really value the relationship we have with Microsoft, […] thank them every day for being not just a vendor to us, but a trusted advisor.” Read the Interview