Microsoft and Unisys are promoting a hardware/software combination that claims "to have the way out" for the "boxed in feeling" that comes from using Unix. But in an odd twist of events, the two industry powerhouses have trusted their Website to a system running the FreeBSD operating system (a free version of Unix) and the Apache Web server (another free software that's developed by open source programmers).

The Unisys/Microsoft advertising campaign, dubbed "We Have The Way Out" promotes Unisys's ES7000 Enterprise Server and Microsoft's Windows 2000 Data Center operating system as an alternative to Unix, which the campaign says "makes you feel boxed in."

But, as it turns out, the campaign's Web site runs on a server running a Unix clone operating system and another thorn in Microsoft's side: Apache Web Server, the strongest competitor to Microsoft's Internet Information Server software.

Dave's Opinion

Well, I'll be, Microsoft sure dropped the ball this time. This is a major slap in the face to Microsoft.

I checked the campaign's Web site this evening. It runs really fast (but that's because it's running Apache and FreeBSD.