Posted on 07/20/2009 7:28:09 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Microsoft is embracing cancer to help ensure Windows survives server-room consolidation.
The company has released 20,000 lines of Windows kernel code under version two of the GPL. Microsoft called the license it once hated "the community's preferred license".
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".
Linux aficionados welcomed the move. Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin is reported to have said he was "tickled" by the surprise move
"Hell has frozen over, the seas have parted," Zemlin said.
Monday's code drop includes three Linux device drivers to enhance the performance of Linux running as a virtualized guest on Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft's code will be made available to the next Linux public tree release in the next 24 hours and will become part of the 2.6.30.1 stable release.
It's not clear whether the code is part of the already released Linux Integration components.
On Monday, Microsoft explained the move in terms of helping customers reduce the cost of deploying and managing their IT infrastructure by using server consolidation.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
fyi
There’s part of me that wants to holler, “It’s a trap!”, but I do welcome Microsoft’s honest participation in this endeavor. Maybe an old dog really can learn some new tricks, but I’m sure it helps if those tricks are essential for its survival.
I think that is a /Revenue miss of some size....even for Microsoft.
From Marketwatch:
After Hours
/quotes/comstock/15*!msft/quotes/nls/msft
$
23.80
Change
-1.76 -6.89%
Volume
Volume 106.06m
Jul 23, 2009 7:59 p.m.
AND:
Microsoft, Amazon shares slide after quarterly results
***************************EXCERPT******************************
Revenue fell 17% to $13.1 billion, reflecting a sharp slowdown in software sales as demand for new personal computers software amid the economic downturn. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had pegged earnings at 36 cents a share on $14.37 billion in revenue.
Especially right after Apple recently announced so much great news. There's only so far MSFT can blame "the economy" and "the market", at the same time when their main competitor is doing so well, with a product line that sells at higher prices (because Apple doesn't do bottom-feeder).
I hope for Microsoft's sake that Win7 does well. Otherwise they are going to be in -real- trouble in about two years.
The code is for the virtualization of Linux device drivers by the Hyper-V hypervisor. Basically Microsoft is making it easier and more efficient to run Linux in a virtual machine under Windows.
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