MS Beta Software To Manage Unix/Linux Systems

Tumbleweed writes "The Cross Platform and Interop team at Microsoft today announced some new beta products for managing Unix/Linux systems from MS Operations Manager 2007, as well as connectors for HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console. Both betas are available at Microsoft Connect (search for systemcenter), according the blog."

Microsoft Linux

[calebt3]

So they are building a GUI to manage Linux servers. Could this eventually lead to a MS Linux distribution? (of course one that masks the cli and possibly has it's own proprietary clones of all the 'standard' programs)

Ha, I'm doing just the opposite

[rwa2]

A lot of my work these days deals with getting Windows boxes to act more like *NIX boxes so I can operate them remotely from a central Linux box.

It's working out pretty well, actually... I set up cygwin with sshd installed in interactive mode, so I can run a script on the central server and have a cluster of WinXP machines all open an application simultaneously, such as play a video simultaneously or connect to a set of VNC servers all at once. I can also use rsync to efficiently distribute and keep a set of files up to date.

Still running into a bunch of limitations of what I can do remotely, such as set the display mode to a certain resolution, etc. so it ultimately won't keep me from replacing the remote machines with a bunch of custom Knoppix LiveCDs eventually. But at least this way I can still leverage the other Windows sysadmins we have an abundance of.

Bite the Bullet

[VeteranNoob]

Why doesn't Microsoft just bite the bullet and base the next version of Windows on Linux or BSD?

We could finally see a secure and maintainable version of Windows. And Linux might finally see its adoption on the desktop like it has always sought.

It is obvious that Windows has become stagnant. Adoption seems to be nil, or possibly even negative. When ordinary (read: non-geek) acquaintances go out of their way to trash Vista, you know it's in trouble. And I don't believe their code-base is the issue, either, since they've purportedly redone it. Instead, I think they're suffering from decades of complacency due to having no competition. And if they don't change their tune soon, they risk being surpassed.

OTOH, Linux is ready for prime-time. With technologies like HAL, Udev, and Dbus (amongst many others), Linux is easily growing out of its role as a server O/S. Everything is in place to create any kind of application, securely, from a Compiz-enabled desktop to a POS register. That's more than I can say for Windows, despite it being deployed on these platforms. The only barriers left are formalities and time. Linux is poised to dominate, and Microsoft must be aware of that considering their recent behavior.

They should take a hint from Apple, hit the reset switch on Windows and rebuild it from Linux. They could use their experience to develop a more modularized, secure, stable operating system than they have ever been able to offer.

They probably wouldn't reap the profits that they are used to, but then again they probably aren't doing that now. In fact, I would expect that they would divert some of their focus away from their Windows product line. After all, Linux-based Windows could be a nearly free enabler to all of their other product lines. Also, Microsoft could gain a bit of goodwill by contributing their changes back to the community and finally owning up to their so-called open source initiative.

It can be easily argued that Microsoft needs goodwill more than it needs wealth at the moment.