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 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 iG Brazilian Internet Service Provider Revitalizes Hosting Community After Migrating From Linux to Windows. Read the Case Study Qatari Supreme Judiciary Council Qatari Supreme Judiciary Council found it was easy to find skilled Microsoft developers after choosing to deploy Microsoft .NET framework over an Oracle/Linux solution. Read the Case Study Newegg.com Internet retailer builds an in-house solution on Microsoft instead of a Linux platform and reduces the need for staff training. 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