Microsoft Hires Director of Linux Interoperability 238
AlexGr sends us to Todd Bishop's blog in the Seattle PI for news that Microsoft has brought someone aboard to serve as its Director of Linux Interoperability and head up the Microsoft/Novell Interoperability Lab. "...his name will be familiar to people in the open-source community. In an e-mail late Thursday night, a Microsoft representative said the role will be filled by Tom Hanrahan, who was most recently the director of engineering at the Linux Foundation, the group created through the recent combination of the Free Standards Group and the Open Source Development Labs."
I recall Netware and NT interoperability... (Score:5, Interesting)
Just another step in validating their IP... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Connections (Score:4, Interesting)
fixed.
how's it been going with Sun (Score:5, Interesting)
BTW, Microsoft does not want to interoperate with Linux and OSS. They want it gone, so any "talk" about deals and smoke-mirror agreements will only flounder, stall, and drag on forever. Anybody who believe otherwise is just fooling themselves.
LoB
Re:Just another step in validating their IP... (Score:3, Interesting)
Linux for years now has become a server competitor , unix was the main server os for awhile , and small servers are dominated by windows. Maybe they finally got the hint that their os is insecure by nature.
I would love to see a windows rewrite from the ground up. Completely based on security and some of the fundamentals that make windows so easy to use. It is possible that this is what they are doing. Getting into these companies can mean that MS has access to many briliant minds who may not be windows fans. It's easier to embrace the companies these folks work for and get the company paying them on your side , then it is to go after each developer.
I actually like when all these companies play nice together. It helps to develop better software. We just may see a new version of windows that may play well with linux/unix and be able to hold its own weight in the high end / high availability server market.
Forgive my ignorance but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Reminds me of "We're from the government..." (Score:3, Interesting)
Microsoft having someone with the title of "Director of Linux Interoperability" is one of those euphemisms. He's not going to improve interoperability, but he'll be addressing interoperability. Much of the interoperability between Microsoft operating systems and Linux have happened despite Microsoft, not with Microsoft's help. They fought SAMBA, for example.
Please remember Microsoft's long history of polluting standards and interfaces. They buggered such standards as HTML and Java. They have everything to lose with interoperability, and very little to gain. If they believe in interoperability, they would not oppose the move to open document standards.
Re:I've said it before (Score:2, Interesting)
Well then, maybe the competition should start competing, don't 'cha think? Considering the "competition" can't even give their products away for free, I gotta think that the problem is with the competition, itself, not MS.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Finally (Score:2, Interesting)
Seriously, what this means is that MS will become more compatible with Linux, not making Linux more compatible with MS products from an interoperability standpoint.
Why change MS software to increase compatibility with Linux when they can just change Linux? Watch for a corresponding increase in commits from "new" sources.
This will be just like Microsoft's extinguishing of Novell in the 1990's, except this time Microsoft can change their competitor's code directly.
Re:how's it been going with Sun (Score:3, Interesting)
There is just so much history of this that anybody who would even consider a partnership with Microsoft must be playing out their exit strategies for their business. Or they are just really really ignorant of Microsoft's business practices and intent. IMO.
LoB
That's what the patent deals are for... (Score:4, Interesting)
With Linux, this is harder. They can't use a price advantage to 'choke off the air supply'. Or can they? To me, that's what the Novell patent deal is all about (from MS's point of view, at least). To un-freeify Linux. Microsoft is confident that they can compete on a level playing field. After all, they have a huge starting advantage, plus they still have the ability to tie their server products to their desktop products. But they can no longer undercut on price. That is, unless they convince the marketplace that free Linux is illegal, and the only way to get Linux is to pay Novell's price. Then they can once again price Novell out of the market.
At least one of the Linux-esque ways of doing business is running servers for free, or at least without per-seat licensing. If that goes away, at least a large part of those Linux fans will lose some of their attachment.
Re:Reminds me of "We're from the government..." (Score:1, Interesting)
Really? When? do you have some real proof that they did something specifically to break Samba, or is it more likely that they made improvements and the Samba team, despite the stale "open source is faster at updating" rhetoric, just not catch up fast enough?
A fox says, "We want to interoperate with hens." (Score:3, Interesting)
"Microsoft Hires Director of Linux Interoperability"
translates as
"Fox wants to interoperate with henhouse". All in the name of efficiency, of course. For the fox.
In my opinion, there is a lot of misunderstanding about Microsoft. People get confused, and think Microsoft is a software company that is abusive. But maybe a better explanation is that Microsoft is an abuse company that uses software as its vehicle to deliver abuse.
REAL managers can make a profit without being adversarial. Managers who have difficulty thinking carefully must work for abusive companies.
Foxes have always thought highly of penguins... (Score:3, Interesting)
Foxes want to interoperate with penguins. Only to help the world, of course. And because foxes think penguins are cute. (Copyright Fox P.R. agency 2007)