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Do you use any Linux?
As a policy, I don't run anything that competes with Microsoft. My goal is to make sure Microsoft products are the best products in the world. It's an easy choice for me, in that sense--to run Microsoft technology. We don't run Unix. We don't run Linux. We don't run Oracle. We're 100 percent Windows, SQL Server.

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What kind of stuff does Microsoft IT have others do?
We outsource our tier-one call center to Hewlett-Packard. Our desk-side support is outsourced, depending on the region, to either Fujitsu-Siemens or to HP. We do outsource some applications development and maintenance to a variety of vendors--Accenture, Electronic Data Systems, Infosys Technologies, BearingPoint. Typically, what we don't outsource are those areas directly tied to our products. We never want to outsource all of our applications development, because we want to be driving improvements in BizTalk and SQL Server and Visual Studio.

Those two quotes from CNET's interview with Ron Markezich, Microsoft's CIO raise an interesting point/idea. Sure, in house MS doesn't run Linux, but I'd wager that most of their outsources run Linux or some type of Unix...esp. HP. I'm not going to say it's therefore disingenuous for him to say that Microsoft IT/IS doesn't run Linux or Unix: strictly speaking they don't. However, it's a safe bet to say that Microsoft's IT department is supported, in part, by non-Microsoft OS's, like Linux and Unix.

That's one of the consequences of outsourcing: you can get into a complicated loop where you're indirectly supporting your competition.