Microsoft Patches Linux; Linus Responds | Linux Magazine
Microsoft has released code for inclusion in the Linux kernel, but should it be accepted? Linus Torvalds gives his perspective.
What it is.
A smart (and necessary) move on Microsoft’s half in order to help stifle the migration of their clients to Linux. Microsoft knows that their clients want to virtualize Linux servers and currently they can’t do that very well on Microsoft hosts using Hyper-V. So if Microsoft does nothing, their clients will start to move away from running Microsoft Windows as their host operating system.
What it is not.
It is not a change of heart. Microsoft has not embraced Linux, or the GPL, or free software. This move is purely a strategic one in order to remain in the virtualization race. Microsoft only does things which are in their own best interest (as with every corporation) and this is no exception. Microsoft’s “Open Source Technology Center” is nothing more than their attempt to stay on top of the free source phenomenon, to best position themselves to fight and destroy it. Much of their new found attention to open source has been a direct result of the European Commission’s Anti-trust case, which has forced them to open source certain products and release technical documentation.
