Microsoft and Novell Open Interoperability Lab 113
An anonymous reader writes to mention that the Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts opened today. The lab is supposed to allow both Novell and Microsoft developers to work together for better interoperability between SUSE and Windows Server. "Located in Cambridge, the 2,500-square-foot lab and workspace will be home to a combined team of the best and brightest Microsoft and Novell engineers focused on making Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise work better together. The first priority for the lab team will be to ensure interoperability between Microsoft and Novell virtualization technologies. Additional work will include standards-based systems management, identity federation and compatibility of office document formats."
itsatrap? (Score:5, Insightful)
Having said that, Microsoft, like many gigantic corporations, has several "personalities" in the sense that different divisions may be operating on different guiding principles that don't necessarily mesh with each other. In this case, for instance, I'm willing to believe that the MS engineers joining this interoperability effort will genuinely do good work towards making MS products work with Linux in a smart and efficient way. So, I can see a lot of good coming out of this.
Yes, we should be wary of any attempt by MS higher-ups to subvert this process and use it to break interoperability (or to make Linux look "unfit for business" or whatever)... but to some extent I'm willing to give MS another chance here.
Not too much to worry about (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mhmm! (Score:3, Insightful)
I suspect that they have learned the lesson from SOAP that having an interoperable standard does not necessarily decrease business. It increases it if the standard complexity is above a certain threshold.
So some of them have seen the light of more revenue on the horizon already. It is a matter of the rest of the company following suit.
Re:itsatrap? (Score:5, Insightful)
This lab is the result of the Microsoft-Novell FUD agreement.
And at 2500 square feet, I.E., a 50x50 foot room,
the techs don't have a lot of room to interoperate.
It's a farce to appease the EU.
Re:itsatrap? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2, Insightful)
Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
That is definitely not the place I would start. First of all, I hardly think interoperability in virtualization is the most important, and secondly, as far as I know, we already _have_ interoperable virtualization.
Instead of virtualization, I would start with file formats and move to protocols from there.
Of course, neither of these would be issues if there were standards and both parties adhered to them.
Re:Write it down. (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe they can straighten out Novell on Wordperfect + Non-Power-User installations. There really is not a lot wrong with modern Windows, other than too many marketers making technical decisions, visual clutter in the GUI, and problems brought on by maintaining compatibility with the single-user consumer Windows such as 98. Sandbox those, and a lot of issues would go away, while maintaining compatibility (or perhaps improving it) for people who still have programs for 98 or Dos 6.22.
That being said, I'm still not going back to the OS of the Beast, but I would tone down the anti-Redmond rhetoric.
Re:itsatrap? (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft has learned a lot about business from IBM in the past. Let's see if they can follow those footsteps going forward. I hope they do.
Re:Peer or puppet? (Score:5, Insightful)
Dead or Alive (Score:2, Insightful)
So if some is tainted, then through it away. People act like they don't care, but seem to. I guess in a way, who cares if Novell dies, we have their code, right? But at the same time, who is going to pick up all of the coding that will stop if they disappear?
Although, I am one of those that hopes, ad mist the flaws/bad choices, that they continue to produce some good things. XEN for example.
Re:itsatrap? (Score:1, Insightful)