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Microsoft Launches Linux Labs Website
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Apr 06, 2006 03:55 PM
from the getting-the-message-out dept.
from the getting-the-message-out dept.
mjdroner writes "ZDNet is reporting that Microsoft is launching a website to 'share the activities of its internal Linux laboratories.' Microsoft says its goal is to foster communication with those who use open-source. The article also mentions that Microsoft runs a 300-server Linux installation to test open-source products." From the article: "Customers will be able to submit requests to Microsoft employees. For example, a person could ask how to best test the use of Linux desktops working with Microsoft's directory software.
In addition, Port 25 will do video interviews with Microsoft employees with experience in the open-source or Unix world, Hilf said."
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Technology: Microsoft Port 25 interviews Miguel de Icaza 202 comments
Ben Galliart writes "Microsoft's Port 25 blog, the voice of MS Linux Labs and a spin-off from the MS Channel 9 blog, has an interview with Miguel de Icaza where they discuss the Gnome and Mono projects. It is a nice change of pace to see Microsoft go from attacking Novell and Linux to interviewing a Novell employee about a Linux desktop system. Port 25 has come under some fire since they can not always be trusted. Port 25 has on occasion put out FUD such as claiming Microsoft is doing more to improve security than any other vendor and a security guide attacking Red Hat for not providing security updates for Red Hat v9 despite that Red Hat ended support back in 2004. They have also released a password synchronization daemon for Red Hat, AIX, HPUX and Solaris that must run as root and makes several calls to strcpy() (which violates Microsoft's guidelines for doing secure coding)."
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Then stop breaking things (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft seems willing to help you get your Linux workstation running against their PDC but are unwilling to reverse and allow their desktops to run against a Unix PDC.
MS has always seemed to break interaction with samba at every opportunity, I suspect this is completely intentional, especially considering their server products (that include the PDC functionality) is their flagship productline.
Re:Then stop breaking things (Score:5, Informative)
Actually it was apparently a security fix, I recently went through this since we're migrating to XP and samba 3.x + ldap. There is a setting in the group policy editor for checking ownership of roaming profiles in SP1. You have to disable this check by enabling the "Do not check ownership" thing. There are details here [rmschneider.com], but once you're done it all works fine.
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Re:Then stop breaking things (Score:3, Funny)
No way! Microsoft would need an entire Linux lab for doing that intentionaly...
Oh,ok. Never mind...
Re:Then stop breaking things (Score:4, Insightful)
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Documentation! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Documentation! (Score:5, Insightful)
They're not inner at all, they're outer: they're designed to be used with others. I do believe this is an important distinction...
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Re:Documentation! (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Documentation! (Score:3, Insightful)
which means Microsoft prioritizes its interests before its customers' interests. Whatever happen to the customer is number-one? I firmly believe that customers benefit from interoperability. So many people have been programmed to think it is okay for companies to protect their interest at the expense of their customer. Not in my book, I say. And that's one reason Microsoft doesn't get my business a
Re:Documentation! (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Then stop breaking things (Score:5, Informative)
The open source projects that in an ideal world would be working closely with Microsoft (most notable are Samba and Wine) are perfectly happy to do so and even occasionally approach Microsoft. Their discussions are of course conducted on open mailing lists and Microsoft could easily establish this co-operation any time they wanted, but with Microsoft on the other hand the discussions are secret, the identity and contact details of the people who need to be involved are closely held, and requests through the available channels hit a brick wall.
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Its a trap! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Its a trap! (Score:5, Insightful)
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obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Re:obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
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Embrace... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Embrace... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Embrace... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:GPL (Score:3, Funny)
USAF had practice units act like Soviets ... (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder if this is sort of the same concept going on here.
I can see it now... (Score:5, Funny)
Answer: Thank you for choosing Microsoft(TM) Software. We have studied this problem and have determined to best use Linux desktops with Microsoft's Active Directory(SM) first format the machines and install Windows(TM) XP Professional(SM)...
Obvious (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, OpenBSD also forms the base of Services for UNIX, so that'd be a shock if they didn't have at least some OpenBSD servers.
Now, Microsoft writing about it, that's kinda neat.
Actual Link (Score:5, Informative)
Can only imagine first email (Score:5, Funny)
Hello dear friend,
While this message my come as a surprise to you, I have spent extensive time trying to port MS Windows applications to Linux. After my company (Loki Software) went bankrupt, the CEO mistakingly transferred $100m (One Hundred Million US Dollars) to my Nigerian bank account and I am looking for a partner in transferring this money back to the United States. In exchange for this service....Thats strange. (Score:5, Funny)
Stalin: Hey guys... I know I've been kind of totalitarian in the past, but... Um... Let's foster some thoughts about that democracy thing we keep hearing about over in the States.
KGB Adivsor: I hear they don't have secret arrests over there...
Stalin: Ok. Thats a start... Anything else?
Army Commisar: They don't have secret laws or show trials.
Stalin: I seeee....
Politburo Advisor: Oh... And they watch funny shows on TV and actually own their own homes and cars and mow their lawns and have these things called elections so that everyone can have their input into the process... Oh and almost forgot there is the...
Stalin: *cuts advisor off* Ok. I think that is enough fostering for a very long time. Lets get back on the subject of 'summary executions'. You know guys, I was thinking maybe we could double our efficiency if we outsource to the Chinese.
Re:Thats strange. (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, MS isn't asking anyone anything... they are "providing information".
Their intent is to make the "information" look legitimate by having a huge resource that they could use for "research" if they really wanted to.
So... a more appropriate analogy would be:
Asking Satan for the best way to get into heaven.
In the end you really have to consider the true intentions of the source of the information.
What a world we live in (Score:5, Funny)
Whats next ?
Balmer takes an anger management course and Steve Jobs changes his appearence ?
In other words (Score:5, Funny)
who do you want to sue today? (Score:4, Interesting)
How do they ensure that none of that source doesn't leak into MS products?
It would be interesting to discover the facts, we've shown you ours, how about you show us yours?
Re:who do you want to sue today? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:who do you want to sue today? (Score:5, Funny)
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Of course MS wants you to submit proposals. (Score:5, Insightful)
What's to stop Microsoft from receiving a request then patenting it and stiffling all future OSS development for your submission?
On the covers, it sounds like Microsoft is opening their arms to open-source development - which is what the OSS community has been wanting for years - but, under the covers, what's to prevent Microsoft from garnering too much control of any given project?
This move isn't to gain the respect of the IT community, it's a ploy aimed directly at removing the ever-increasing market share that GNU/Linux has been gaining. Every Linux installation removes the Microsoft Tax Revenue Stream from Microsoft's coffers and that is a threat to them.
Until you see a Microsoft release of a GNU/Linux distro, don't expect Microsoft to support Linux too earnestly. This is just another move by Microsoft geared to directly affect GNU/Linux installations by those installations being replaced with Microsoft server OSs.
{anti-microsoft rhetoric OFF}
In other news... (Score:4, Funny)
The enemy within.... (Score:3, Insightful)
In other news... (Score:5, Informative)
...Microsoft urges UK PC vendors to not sell PC's without an OS, since this is a missed opportunity to market their software and services. They also claim that so called naked PCs are often used to install pirated copies of Microsoft software.
Note that they do not specifically mention that this OS is Windows, but I think it is implied between the lines. It is also common knowledge that BSA counts systems sold without a commercial OS as using a pirated OS, which means that computers running Linux or other F/OSS OS'es are included in their piracy statistics.
Microsoft just has to adapt to business reality (Score:4, Insightful)
As much as marketing is importing in the consumer field, I think aggressive advertising is not taken as favorably in the business world. Many large businesses and organizations have chosen to use Linux on various servers, and Microsoft has to acknowledge this, especially if they want to keep their core desktop business.
For example, say you are a large university and you keep thousands of students and staff members' e-Mail on a Linux computer (or computers), and you have labs full of desktops that students use to access it. Say the IT department at this university calls Microsoft up with a question about some minor problem this is causing. Microsoft tech support can't really say "oh, just format that closet full of mail servers and put Windows on them!" They might be able to suggest such a thing in advertising, but they know that if they try it with corporate professionals, they are just going to be laughed at.
Microsoft needs to adjust itself to the decisions corporations, governments, universities and the like are making. It is as simple as that.
Re:Microsoft just has to adapt to business reality (Score:3, Interesting)
Keep your friends close... (Score:3, Insightful)
Meanwhile, in a private Yoga class in Redmond... (Score:4, Insightful)
Breathe out....
Now extend your arms and breathe in.
Breathe out...
Breathe in...
Join your arms again. Embrace...
Now extend your arms and breathe in. "Extend".
Keep doing it guys...
Embrace...
Extend...
Embrace...
Extend...
Well done! See you next week!
Embrace and extend (Score:5, Insightful)
I pondered, and so far the only explanation is their usual "embrace and extend" practice. Take a standard, implement it, then extend with some "extra features" nobody else supports, hope that devs jump the wagon and make use of those "features" until customers have to use their flavor or else something doesn't work.
It worked before in the Browser War, I'd guess it's a tactic that could work again.
Now, how?
My guess goes towards
After a few years, Mono will vanish. And then MS can start pulling resources from the Linux version, making it less stable, making it slower (unless it's neither stable nor fast from the beginning). Yes, that takes time. But MS is in no hurry.
OK, I will repeat this once again... (Score:4, Insightful)
I have said this a lot on Slashdot, and usually it gets dismissed, but I will restate it.
Know your competition and DO NOT under estimate Microsoft.
This just shows that at least they 'get' this concept of knowing their competition. This also would demonstrate that Redmond is not blind to the advances in the Open Source world.
Not only are the using and learning from it, but all it would take is a bit of popularity to see a Linux subsystem for NT, like the already MS *nix subsystem shipping free for NT.
My letter to Microsoft (Score:3, Interesting)
Open Source cannot be extended (Score:5, Insightful)
OPEN SOURCE CANNOT BE EXTENDED. At least not the way Microsoft wants it to be.
Why? Because it's based on open collaboration and open standards. It's a collective which cannot be controlled. What happens if Microsoft tries to control OSS? Simple. You fork it. What happens when Microsoft tries to find a way to exclusivly make money off of OSS? Simple. You make a free (beer, speech) alternative and put all the documentation on-line. All of it.
You see, Open Source cannot be killed. That's the beauty of the whole concept. Cut off one head and another grows... and I mean it in a good sense.
99 comments (Score:5, Funny)
"Finally! The ease of linux combined with the security of Windows!"
Really guys we're slipping here.
new apt-get comand for Microsoft Debian.... (Score:3, Funny)
(resistance is futile)
Alien Resurrection (Score:3, Funny)
Marketing Ploy (Score:3, Insightful)
True, they aren't going to be that obvious. But the attempt here is to see the concerns of users of a competitors product and best understand how to meet those needs through their own product. Don't think for one second that MS is actually looking for ways to make their products work better with Linux. They are looking for what doesn't work and see if they can turn that into a compelling reason to stay with MS based products.
Since I manage an ISP among other duties, it would be like me offering advice to AOL users, with that advice always boiling down to AOL sucks, use my product which is better. Sure, I can throw in some technical jargon to make it sound legitimate, but it is still just a sales pitch.
Don't be fooled.
Port 25 website only available on port 80 (Score:4, Funny)
Re:It's the fox in sheeps clothing (Score:5, Insightful)
It's pretty simple. They've tried killing, buying, and trashing Linux. It's not going away. So now the question is 'How can I make money off of Linux?' This is market research to find out what MS-Linux interoperability tools people may need and how to best sell them.
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Re:Port 25? (Score:3, Informative)