RSSMicrosoft Opens Up With Linux Support
By David Worthington | Published April 21, 2005, 8:58 PM
Microsoft has done what could have once been considered unthinkable: It has begun to support Linux in its products. In a keynote speech given at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, CEO Steve Ballmer laid out the company's plans to expand its virtualization software to support other platforms, including Linux.
Microsoft's Virtual Server leverages Windows Server 2003 as a platform for running multiple operating systems on a single machine, each insolated from one another. Windows Server 2003 is the "host" OS that can be configured to run virtual machines for "guest" operating systems, including Windows NT and 2000, OS/2 and Unix.
Microsoft acquired Virtual Server from Connectix in February of 2003. At the time of the acquisition, Linux was a supported guest operating system, but was later stricken from product literature after the software was branded by Microsoft.
Service Pack 1 for Virtual Server 2005, however, will include officially sanctioned support for Linux when it ships later this year. Other improvements come as a result of tightened integration with Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), which eases manageability.
Developers of competing virtualization software have historically supported Linux. VMware offers customers a library of virtual machines for x86 operating systems including Windows, Linux, Novell NetWare and Sun's Solaris.
The theme of Ballmer's keynote was interoperability. "We've added support for non-Windows virtual machines being hosted on top of our Virtual Server product, including support for Linux. Remember what I said earlier about interoperability? We're really believing that," he said.
"We know folks are going to want to run Windows systems and Linux systems and other systems together on top of our Virtual Server and Windows. You'll see support for that later in the year."
In reaction to Ballmer's announcement, many Linux proponents reacted incredulously in Web logs, pointing out Microsoft's legacy of speaking out against Linux as a platform. Moreover, Microsoft has specifically targeted Linux through integrated marketing campaigns including "Get the Facts."
But Microsoft's reversal of its interoperability stance was welcomed by some who credited Microsoft for listening to its consumer base. Although, industry analysts questioned the specific reasoning behind adding Linux support to Virtual Server.
"I'm struggling to imagine common, realistic scenarios where someone would want to run Linux via Virtual Server on top of Windows Server. If Linux and Windows ran on different hardware, perhaps," Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox told BetaNews.
"I do see PR advantage for Microsoft with some larger customers prioritizing around interoperability, and with the EU, where Windows Server all huggy and kissy with Linux might sway some governments and regulators."
They did remove it from Virtual PC when they got it. Despite the fact Linux still worked under the "Other" selection I guess this might help public relations by adding another selection in the drop-down combo.
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...of the anti-MS "revolutionaries".
I mean it's just so damned FUNNY! :) :) :)
You see utterly hilarious statements like "free onesself from the overbearing yoke of the MS corporate machine".
One would think the individual was either attempting to foment revolution or was making a commercial for Apple...
On the other side of things you see more realistic end-user wishes like "Why don't they buy the whole damn thing and maybe it will become user friendly at last? Once it's out of the control of the trolls who seem to regard it as something sacred, and therefore unfit for mere mortals, somebody might actually be able to use it."
If linux is to gain mass acceptance that is exactly what has to happen. Unfortunately, the self-styled psuedo-avant-garde teknol33t who spout the previously mentioned rubbish will most likely immediately cry "sell-out!". Such is the nature of terminal shortsightedness.
That being said, MS is under the gun to provide interoperability with disparate systems. As crazy as this sounds, things like this may actually help legitimize Linux in the eyes of old-guard corporate suits who see it as a mom 'n' pop affair.
In any event, the times they are a changing...
Oh, and before the "revolutionaries" rush in crying "Liberation! Liberate yourself from the Yoke!!"...
...do get a grip on yourselves.
Times never change THAT much or THAT fast.
Now, I'm sure there's going to be a "telling retort" of sorts (or rather attempts at one), but in the end they won't effect sweeping changes, any more than they've caused "revolution" over the last five or six years that the rhetoric has been spouted.
Gradual awareness and announcements like this may, however.
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holy crap!
"If linux is to gain mass acceptance that is exactly what has to happen. Unfortunately, the self-styled psuedo-avant-garde teknol33t who spout the previously mentioned rubbish will most likely immediately cry "sell-out!". Such is the nature of terminal shortsightedness."
Talk about overblown rhetoric! LOL
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You like that, eh? It's called "sweets for the sweet". :) :) :)
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one of the benefits of running linux is to free onesself from the overbearing yoke of the MS corporate machine. Many Linux users also run winblows simply for the games. what MS SHOULD be doing to show support for linux is to open up their protocols and such to linux developers so that linux developers can make apps native to linux that can interoperate properly with mickeysoft.
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Just FYI, I do not put any value in comments with childish phrases and derrogatory remarks like "winblows" and "mickeysoft". I would recommend for your own sake that you try to be a little more objective in your criticism. Would you believe you may actually influence someone towards linux that way, but that third-grade name calling only degrades the credibility of your comments.
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Seconded.
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yeah. linux the goal should be to mention linux more than it's other, name calling refers to the other, simply advertising it when you didn't want to do that linux.
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This is PR nonsense. They haven't "opened up" or embraced interoperability at all. They simply bought a product that already supported Linux and are trying to recover from the backlash of hobbling it in the first place.
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There are lots of PR stunts that Microsoft can get more mileage from so I don't think Microsoft intended this to be a PR stunt, but I agree with you that it won't really amount to anything. The Virtual Server product does indeed run Linux already (and always has) so the only change is that you can now call PSS and get help with a configuration involving Linux (whereas they wouldn't talk to you previously).
But seriously...how many Linux users would ever resort to calling Microsoft for support?? The vast majority of Linux users would rather stick a gun in their mouths and blow their own brains out, before asking Microsoft for help.
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Why don't they buy the whole damn thing and maybe it will become user friendly at last? Once it's out of the control of the trolls who seem to regard it as something sacred, and therefore unfit for mere mortals, somebody might actually be able to use it.
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"Why don't they buy the whole damn thing and maybe it will become user friendly at last?"
Oh, man, I just know some MS hater is going to slam you on that one (lol)
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I think this is cool?
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Wow, this blew up quick. I don't get why some people get so immature about what OS they use. Everyone knows Linux runs more efficiently than windows. However, windows has much more innovative technology and concepts built in. The Linux distro's are always trying to impress everyone with their useability. But yet I still need to spend 30 minutes configuring Wine or Cedega to play Half Life 2. at the same time I need to clean out Temporary Internet Files from windows XP twice a week if I want my machine to run half way decently. They both have their good and bad points. Microsoft could be just recognizing that there is a greater demant for Linux support because they loose more and more of their client-base to Linux every year. Many companies are now running Linux backends on their Windows 2003 Server domains. The products can work together, we just need to learn that MS will soon be just one of the options.
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It's silly generalizations like the "everyone knows... " stuff that people take exception to, mostly because quite often the ones coming out with the statements know nothing about the underlying architecture they're commenting on and what it takes to make it run. If, as just one example, linux was as complex an animal supporting thousands of (often broken) pieces of hardware as Windows and could do even *half* of what Windows does with that hardware, it would be at least three times the size it is now and it's much over-hyped (and overstated) speed would be a thing of the past.
Basically you have a stripped down hot-rod with almost no comfort to the ride being compared to a top-line Mercedes that can still roar due to its 400HP engine and advanced transmission.
Unfortunately, the zealots in their shortsightedness (and again often limited experience) never see this.
As you say, both have their good and bad and that's how you have to look at it. However, the mindless silly-assed zealotry based on ignorance just gets tiring.
BTW, setting your internet cache to 50Mb instead of the gargantuan default goes a long way. :)
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Linux has been promising a desktop since 1994 and I am still waiting. I bought SuSE 9.2 and it just might be the worst distibution I've ever used. I have been running linux boxes since 1997 when I got a free RedHat distro with a "Linux for Dummies" book.
My current linux box is sitting in the closet and there it will stay until someone, probably Mandriva, comes up with a linux desktop that anyone can use. I wouldn't buy another linux distribution except from Mandriva, or better yet MICROSOFT!
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1994? Hmmm, I used it in 1994 and I don't recall ever hearing mention of taking over the desktop until KDE 1.0 which wasn't until 1998.
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