Johannesburg, 12 May 2004
Microsoft South Africa announced that it will launch the "Get the Facts" campaign locally later this month as part of the corporation`s global advertising drive initiated in the US in November 2003.
SA becomes the 29th country to run a series of print and online ads about the value and benefits of Windows Server System compared to Linux products in local IT print and online publications.
"Over the past year, software cost and value has been a common issue raised by IT customers. Customers globally are asking for factual information to help them make value-based IT decisions. This is especially relevant when making decisions regarding open source or Microsoft-based technologies. One way we can do this is to supply customers with objective third-party research and facts. Evidence of company`s experience can be invaluable in terms of evaluating the merits of different platforms," says Albie Bester, platform strategy manager at Microsoft South Africa.
The third-party studies are to be another data point in the customer`s buying decisions for IT. In December 2002, Microsoft released a commissioned report by IDC which evaluated server total cost of ownership; and recently commissioned a Giga/Forrester (October 2003) report on the total economic impact of an application stack. The study found that enterprises using Microsoft`s .NET/Windows platform to build and support custom applications incur 25% to 28% less cost than those using J2EE/Linux platform during a four-year lifecycle.
"However, every customer is unique and has a different scenario. We believe that customers need to be evaluating what products will meet their business needs. The heart of this campaign is a focused on factual, third-party information and evidence that can be useful to IT companies," adds Bester.
Initial campaign results in several countries where the campaign has already run indicate a positive change in perception. "In many cases the dialogue with customers that is now happening is indicative of the fact that the `Get the Facts` campaign is positively influencing IT professionals to be aware of some of the myths. It`s more about arming yourself with the facts to make a business case for a particular technology."
The ads will drive customers to a new Web site www.microsoft.com/southafrica/getthefacts to find information on what customers and analysts are saying about Windows versus open source. "Ultimately our ongoing focus is to deliver evidence that demonstrates how Microsoft is uniquely suited to deliver the best business value," concludes Bester.
The local campaign kicks off on 24 May.
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