Microsoft unleashes 20,000 lines of Linux code

[crazylegs]

Pigs do fly: Microsoft unleashes 20,000 lines of Linux code

 

[Urmas]

But lest anyone think Microsoft suffered a massive head trauma over the weekend, the code it is releasing isn't really about helping Linux compete better with Microsoft. The drivers are really geared at making Windows a better host for Linux.

"The Linux device drivers we are releasing are designed so Linux can run in enlightened mode, giving it the same optimized synthetic devices as a Windows virtual machine running on top of Hyper-V," Tom Hanrahan, director of Microsoft's Open Source Technology Center, said in a statement. "Without this driver code, Linux can run on top of Windows, but without the same high performance levels."


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Microsoft is in an interesting position--seeking to compete with Linux while also understanding that many companies run both operating systems. Not only is it about making its business customers happy, but there is good money to be made by owning the management and virtualization layers, even if there is some Linux running atop Microsoft's stack.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10290818-56.html

 

[Abarbarian]

Thats good news. Only a few years ago MS were saying that Linux was a cancer in the world of computing.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thats good news. Only a few years ago MS were saying that Linux was a cancer in the world of computing.

Were they?

Link?

 

[Urmas]

Were they?

Link?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/20/microsoft_windows_drivers_linux/

"How things have changed. Back in 2001, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie described the GPL as a threat to users' intellectual property and the independent commercial software sector.

The great majority of Linux is licensed under GPL, and about the same time as Mundie was sounding off, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer called Linux a "cancer"."

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for the clarification gentlemen

We should be grateful to Steve Ballmer, he's such an idiot he mouths publicly what most of Microsoft secretly think but wouldn't dare utter.

How he ever attained the rank he has within Microsoft astounds me.

Or maybe it shouldn't astound me, after all, with so many billions comes a profound arrogance in some people.

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/23/microsoft_hyperv_gpl_violation/

"Microsoft was in violation of the GPL (General Public License) on the Hyper-V code it released to open source this week.

After Redmond covered itself in glory by opening up the code, it now looks like it may have acted simply to head off any potentially embarrassing legal dispute over violation of the GPL. The rest was theater.

As revealed by Stephen Hemminger - a principal engineer with open-source network vendor Vyatta - a network driver in Microsoft's Hyper-V used open-source components licensed under the GPL and statically linked to binary parts. The GPL does not permit the mixing of closed and open-source elements."



"But this time it seems Microsoft didn't just omit certain key, unflattering facts - a move we expect from IT vendors when presenting their version of the news. It went a step further, by positioning the GPLing of the code as something it clearly was not.

Microsoft called it a "break from the ordinary", a "significant milestone," and a "prime example" of customer demand being a "powerful catalyst" for change. In realty, it looks like Microsoft messed up and was doing the right thing - if only to avert an embarrassing legal problem."




So M$'s great offer was just another load of tripe. As always look beneath the covers when M$ gives you a "true" story.

 

[Urmas]

Ooops...

 

[crazylegs]

Nothing changes does it..

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.crn.com/software/218501568;jsessionid=RAGOIHPP3WWIGQSNDLRSKH0CJUNN2JVN

"And according to a slide Turner showed, the COO's hit list includes a number of open-source products, including Linux, Firefox, the MySQL database (a close competitor to Microsoft's SQL Server), and Open Office, the free alternative to Microsoft Office, one of the company's cash cows.

Turner derided Linux in his speech, referring to the "fraudulent perception of free" software, and boasting that Linux hasn't eroded Windows Server's market share. "It feels so good for customers to finally understand the truth about open source and Linux, and we're making incredible progress in this space and we're going to continue to drive that," he said."


Like I said read underneath the covers.

Mind you M$ arn't doing so well as their profits are dropping in the pc and server market.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8166262.stm