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How Tarantella is creeping up on Citrix

Matt Loney ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 13 Oct 2003 15:00 BST

Microsoft has been able to deliver Windows Terminal Services, but can still only manage it about as well as a crocodile can manage a dental appointment. But that is not to say Citrix has no competition. First, of course, there is Microsoft itself.

As reptiles go, Microsoft can -- when the mood takes it -- be particularly cold-blooded. Some years ago, a company called FTP Software used to provide a useful add-on to Windows, but as soon as Microsoft decided that this partner's core business made a nice addition to Windows, it swallowed the smaller company whole. There are many more such examples.

Citrix has been able to avoid FTP's fate because it moves fast and enhances its products at a rapid pace. The Terminal Services software in Windows Server 2000 was licensed by Microsoft from Citrix, but was based on old Citrix software. It was not widely seen as a viable terminal services solution in itself without the new Citrix software installed on top.

In 2002, Microsoft and Citrix reworked a five-year-old deal to ensure that Citrix will continue to have access to new Windows releases. But the fact that this was not a straight extension of the original agreement, which saw Microsoft pay to use the Citrix technology, has led many to speculate that Microsoft might try to find a way around using Citrix technology in the future, either by buying a start-up or developing its own version.

To date, the consensus opinion is that Microsoft has a long way to go before it can match the dexterity of Citrix when it comes to delivering server-based applications to the desktop. That is not to say it is not trying. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was quoted recently as saying that the relationship with Citrix is not always comfortable, but it works. Crucially, he added that even though he is happy to see Citrix succeed, Microsoft has engineers who want to do better than Citrix. Indeed, with Windows Server 2003, Microsoft has focused heavily on Terminal Services, adding COM port, drive, and printer mapping.

But it's still not there.

So what if there was another company out there who could bring to Microsoft similar benefits to those supplied by Citrix? Well, there was, and that company was called New Moon Systems.