With an article that covers "From Cancer to Cloud" and beyond, Techrepublic asks: What is Microsoft Doing With Linux? Everything You Need to Know About its Plans for Open Source
'Microsoft and Linux' should be a phrase we're used to hearing by now. Microsoft is a member of not only the Linux Foundation but also the Linux kernel security mailing list... Microsoft is submitting patches to the Linux kernel... And when Microsoft wanted to add container support to Windows, it picked an open-source specification designed originally for [Linux].
Now Azure customers get the same hybrid benefits for Linux support contracts as they do for Windows Server licences; Windows runs Linux binaries; some key Microsoft applications are available on Linux; and new services might be built with Linux.
[...] At the recent Azure Open Day, Kubernetes co-founder and Microsoft corporate vice-president Brendan Burns talked about Microsoft having a deep understanding of Linux and contributing to existing open-source projects based on Linux as well as founding new ones like Dapr (Distributed Application Runtime).
[...] In short, Microsoft 'hearts' Linux.
But forget the idea of throwing away the Windows kernel and replacing it with a Linux kernel, because Microsoft's approach to Linux is far more pragmatic and comprehensive. Although the company is now thoroughly cross-platform, not every application will move to or take advantage of Linux. Instead, Microsoft adopts or supports Linux when the customers are there, or when it wants to take advantage of the ecosystem with open-source projects.
With GNU/Linux increasingly a part of both Windows 10 and Microsoft's cloud offerings, do you prefer to get your Linux from Microsoft, or from a more traditional source?
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Has no one seen this yet? Don't cross the streams!
Earlier today, we wrote that Microsoft was going to add some big new features to the Windows Subsystem for Linux, including native support for Docker containers. It turns out that that ain't the half of it.
Not even half.
All is changing with Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. Instead of emulating the Linux kernel APIs on the NT kernel, WSL 2 is going to run a full Linux kernel in a lightweight virtual machine. This kernel will be trimmed down and tailored to this particular use case, with stripped-down hardware support (since it will defer to the host Windows OS for that) and faster booting.
The Linux kernel is GPLed open source; the GPL license requires that any modifications made to the code must be published and made available under the GPL license. Microsoft will duly comply with this, publishing the patches and modifications it makes to the kernel. WSL 2 will also use a similar split as the current WSL does: the kernel component will be shipped with Windows while "personalities" as provided by the various Linux distributions can be installed from the Microsoft Store.
To quote Han Solo, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux is coming to all Windows 10 users (archive):
You won't have to be a tester to try Windows 10's new, built-in Linux kernel in the near future. Microsoft has confirmed that Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 will be widely available when Windows 10 version 2004 arrives. You'll have to install it manually for a "few months" until an update adds automatic installs and updates, but that's a small price to pay if you want Linux and Windows to coexist in peace and harmony. It'll be easier to set up, at least -- the kernel will now be delivered through Windows Update instead of forcing you to install an entire Windows image.
Embrace, Extend... Excite!
Previously: Windows 10 Will Soon Ship with a Full, Open Source, GPLed Linux Kernel
Open source's Eric Raymond: Windows 10 will soon be just an emulation layer on Linux kernel
Will Windows lose the last phase of the desktop wars to Linux? Noted open-source advocate Eric Raymond thinks so.
Celebrated open-source software advocate and author Eric Raymond, who's long argued Linux will rule the desktop, reckons it won't be long before Windows 10 becomes an emulation layer over a Linux kernel.
[...] Looking further into the future, Raymond sees Microsoft killing off Windows emulation altogether after it reaches the point where everything under the Windows user interface has already moved to Linux.
"Third-party software providers stop shipping Windows binaries in favor of ELF binaries with a pure Linux API... and Linux finally wins the desktop wars, not by displacing Windows but by co-opting it. Perhaps this is always how it had to be," Raymond projects.
Is It Time for Windows and Linux to Converge?
Last phase of the desktop wars?
The two most intriguing developments in the recent evolution of the Microsoft Windows operating system are Windows System for Linux (WSL) and the porting of their Microsoft Edge browser to Ubuntu.
For those of you not keeping up, WSL allows unmodified Linux binaries to run under Windows 10. No emulation, no shim layer, they just load and go.
[...] Proton is the emulation layer that allows Windows games distributed on Steam to run over Linux. It's not perfect yet, but it's getting close. I myself use it to play World of Warships on the Great Beast.
The thing about games is that they are the most demanding possible stress test for a Windows emulation layer, much more so than business software. We may already be at the point where Proton-like technology is entirely good enough to run Windows business software over Linux. If not, we will be soon.
So, you're a Microsoft corporate strategist. What's the profit-maximizing path forward given all these factors?
It's this: Microsoft Windows becomes a Proton-like emulation layer over a Linux kernel, with the layer getting thinner over time as more of the support lands in the mainline kernel sources. The economic motive is that Microsoft sheds an ever-larger fraction of its development costs as less and less has to be done in-house.
If you think this is fantasy, think again. The best evidence that it's already the plan is that Microsoft has already ported Edge to run under Linux. There is only one way that makes any sense, and that is as a trial run for freeing the rest of the Windows utility suite from depending on any emulation layer.
So, the end state this all points at is: New Windows is mostly a Linux kernel, there's an old-Windows emulation over it, but Edge and the rest of the Windows user-land utilities don't use the emulation. The emulation layer is there for games and other legacy third-party software.
Also at The Register.
Previously: Windows 10 Will Soon Ship with a Full, Open Source, GPLed Linux Kernel
Call Me Crazy, but Windows 11 Could Run On Linux
Microsoft Windows Linux for Everybody
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
Microsoft announced today that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's detection and response (EDR) capabilities are now generally available on Linux servers.
EDR capabilities allow admins and security teams to spot attacks targeting or involving Linux servers in their environments almost in real-time with the help of alerts automatically aggregated as incidents based on attacker techniques and attribution.
This adds to the already existing preventative antivirus capabilities and the centralized reporting features available to admins via the Microsoft Defender Security Center.
[...] "If you are already running Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (Linux) preventive AV in production, your devices will seamlessly receive the new EDR capability as soon as you update the agent to version 101.18.53 or higher," Microsoft Senior Product Manager Tomer Hevlin said.
Do members of our community trust Microsoft for their Linux and Linux security needs?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by leon_the_cat on Monday December 28 2020, @07:04AM
and now i need some. Linked article reads like an ad. And M****$*** can bite my shiny kitty ass.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday December 28 2020, @07:31AM (1 child)
Embrace.
Extend.
I think we all know the third step.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday December 28 2020, @05:07PM
Exactly my thoughts on reading this (both summary and FA). Now that the Extend...Embrace period is near over look for the snap of the mouse trap.
OTH, is this now the dawn of Linux on the desktop?
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 5, Informative) by fakefuck39 on Monday December 28 2020, @07:40AM (7 children)
I'll answer that. You've been able to get linux and support from competitors of microsoft for ages and ages. HP sells HP-UX and Linux. IBM sells AIX and Linux. Oracle sells Solaris and Linux. So there's a market, so there's no reason for MS to not also have a footprint in that market.
Except all the customers remember their patent bs, the SCO backing and fake lawsuits, and all their bad behavior. I've been at this for over 20 years, never has a single customer bought anything linux from microsoft. Never has anyone used the windows linux crap. Which isn't new on windows 10 btw. MS has had services for linux since I believe NT3.51, the only POSIX-compliant OS by microsoft, which came from a company they bought. The only thing people use their linux layer for within windows is because they want to use a shell like ksh, in windows, and they're annoyed with cygwin.
This story looks like marketing PR, is complete BS, and if we had "editors" "editing" it's something that should never make it on this site. But hey, it's from one of those people who get their garbage on the front page without being read by anyone, so here we are again.
Next story in the approved queue: did you know you can now get $800 off an iphone12? check it out tech nerds, and discuss this awesome deal.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/electronics/top-deals/pcmcat1563299784494.c?id=pcmcat1563299784494&intl=nosplash [bestbuy.com]
(Score: 5, Informative) by canopic jug on Monday December 28 2020, @09:10AM
It's also a distraction from the thousands of layoffs going on in their Azure division. There have been several rounds of layoffs there this year, each round with thousands of those worms getting the boot.
Any submissions linking to either Techrepublic or ZDNet ought to go straight to the bit bucket. Keep in mind that both are owned by the same mass marketing company. Lately M$ has been increasing its use of marketing companies to promote the illusion of profit and growth in its failing ventures. It is marketeering in place of actual technology articles.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 5, Touché) by cosurgi on Monday December 28 2020, @02:25PM (5 children)
Would you like to join the editors team? It's all for free :)
#
#\ @ ? [adom.de] Colonize Mars [kozicki.pl]
#
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fakefuck39 on Monday December 28 2020, @03:03PM (4 children)
nope. but i would pay for someone's time to perl up semi-automation code to preselect stories into a smaller set that's manageable by current editors, to result in better stories like we had a year ago. something that for one won't just take 10 from one submitter, half reaking of bird migration blandness. you don't want me on your team, i use an anonymous public forum to vent the daily amount of asshole in me.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @06:14PM (1 child)
> i use an anonymous public forum to vent the daily amount of asshole in me.
You don't say! Your posts are shit by the way.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday December 29 2020, @01:02AM
aah look, the person I'm making fun of thinks the quality of my words is lacking. did you also think the guy in high school stuffing you into a locker while the girls giggled had bad manners?
to this battle of wits sir, you've come unarmed. but do keep going. it's very entertaining for me.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @03:51AM (1 child)
Well fuck off, asshole.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday December 29 2020, @04:19AM
no thanks. how about i just keep doing exactly what i always do and completely ignore your lonely opinion. if you don't like text in front of you, don't read it. tell me, do you often buy and read muslim texts and then send the muslims a letter asking them to stop writing, because you don't like what you read?
actually... i bet that's exactly what you do. with many things. and i bet in your brain your actions make logical sense.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @07:43AM (5 children)
The company that perma-Temped employees so it wouldn't have to pay them full benefits is now able to monetize software engineering talent for *no salary or benefits at all*. For MS, it was never about proprietary software. It was about making money any way possible. If they can do it by owning software, great. If they can do it by owning developers, even better.
This is what I've never understood about RMS, and other left-leaning people supporting the GPL. It's like... the WORST UNION CONTRACT EVER.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by pTamok on Monday December 28 2020, @10:16AM (2 children)
No, the GPL is not.
It allows you to monetize providing a service, secure in the knowledge that the tools you use are free (in both senses of free). You are not like an independent motor mechanic unable to afford the proprietary tools needed to service cars and (John Deere) tractors and other agricultural vehicles. Don't think for one minute that if companies could hide software tools behind exorbitant paywalls that they would not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @07:48PM (1 child)
Original AC that was moderated "Troll" here. Sure, it allows you to monetize providing a service, and if your business model is built around providing something *other* than software, that's great for you because you find software to be a cost center, and the GPL brings those costs way down.
"(both senses of free)". The idea that English is inadequate in this regard is silly too, and I find the fact that so many people buy into that to be cult-like. We don't need loan words from French or any other language to tell us what "copyleft" is. It's not "Free as in libre". It's "public as in the commons". At least the *license* gets that right--general PUBLIC license; but the thing about English not having the right word is pure rhetoric for brain-washing purposes. It makes people feel special that they've transcended convention to the point where "English is inadequate". Inanimate objects don't have the quality of being free in the "liberated" sense. It's a silly concept.
I find the GPL as an antidote to the excesses of things like John Deere to be unsatisfying. I'd prefer a right to repair, and even a right to analyze software--but not a requirement that it be permissible to redistribute such things commercially.
The freedom to redistribute things commercially combined with the requirement to open source is leading us towards an operating system monopoly, except that the monopoly is public instead of private.
I don't see public monopolies as being any better than private ones, and of course MS loves monopolies too so getting back to my "Troll" point--"of course MS loves Linux". I'm not surprised at all.
With open source that is BSD-style, you can (if it makes sense) roll it in to proprietary products that compete under the business model that originally got MS where it is. The last thing MS wants is something like Windows without telemetry and constantly changing UIs. competing with the old Windows. So of course they love Linux now. They're in the castle. Time to raise the drawbridge.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Monday December 28 2020, @10:33PM
I actually agree with you, but probably not in exactly the sense you intended. English *does* have the right word, it's free. However that word is misused more often than not, to mean gratis instead, which is what leads people to find other synonyms to make things clearer. Not because English lacks the right words, but because English has been so abused for so long by marketers that it doesn't matter.
"Inanimate objects don't have the quality of being free in the "liberated" sense."
Again, that's actually correct, though not quite in the sense you intend (and code is pattern, not object, but it probably doesn't matter in this context.) Of course code can't be free in exactly the same way a person can be free - but a license attached to code can be free (suitable for use by free people) or unfree (not suitable for such use - requiring ones freedom as a condition of use.)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @03:40PM (1 child)
>This is what I've never understood about RMS, and other left-leaning people supporting the GPL. It's like... the WORST UNION CONTRACT EVER.
First, GPL have nothing to do with left wing, it is totally apolitical... some people love to do that association, but as true as saying that stealing is right wing thing!
The idea of GPL is protecting the code and user. No where it says that developers must work for free and the true is that most open source developers in bigger projects today are paid for do that.
Yes, in smaller projects, the developer usually work for free, but either it is solving it own problem or hope it will grow and upgrade to paid job... not that different from the right wing idea of a intern not being paid to gain experience. The difference between this and the traditional closed source development is that when a shareware software is abandon, it is lost but in open source, someone else can resume it. Add to that you can reuse other projects and use multiple building blocks, like a lego.
This is what MS is doing, it taking the open blocks, add their own (also open blocks, due to the GPL, and using their own paid developers) and slam it inside a windows hidden VM. Sell that to some clueless companies as a excuse to not migrate to linux and get paid
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @05:44PM
> ...apolitical...
Ballmer wanted "to emphasise the competitive threat, and in some senses the competitive opportunity, that Linux represents. Linux is a tough competitor. There's no company called Linux, there's barely a Linux road map. Yet Linux sort of springs organically from the earth. And it had, you know, the characteristics of communism that people love so very, very much about it."
https://www.theregister.com/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/ [theregister.com]
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Monday December 28 2020, @11:40AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjdjDz8jhN4 [youtube.com]
Homework assignment: deep-faked this Gates and Torvalds.
compiling...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @12:45PM
Seriously! I had a nice computer. It had an operating system. And the Microsoft fucked my dog! Literally! Poor pooch could not even get it up to tell the time of day, or load the recent journal entries on SoylentNews. It was that bad. So, fuck Microsoft in their tiniest orifice, with the smallest phallus possible. They were evil before Google managed it. Farch them.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Monday December 28 2020, @01:24PM (3 children)
Kafkaesque surrealism of the situation resembles absurd theater style of the past century, actually positioning Linux users spectators at place of tragedy victims.
Fork the kernel project now before it's too late.
Split it by platforms and ISAs, the divergence in hardware is dragging kernel mechanics down already, for years.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2) by https on Monday December 28 2020, @02:47PM
If you're so fucking concerned about hardware divergence, just use NetBSD.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday December 28 2020, @03:15PM (1 child)
Well, Linux is a monolithic kernel, with all support for hardware contained within it. Has been since its beginning. I don't know how much of the kernel source code is devoted to the thousands of devices that Linux supports, but it's well over 50%.
Forking won't change that. Got to move to a different system, perhaps a microkernel architecture such as Minix 3. Microkernels haven't gotten the love, and as far as I'm aware, none of them are anywhere near Linux's level of development. One of the most developed may be a commercial, proprietary one, QNX.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday December 28 2020, @06:54PM
Microkernel Linux [mklinux.org] (Last updated: Saturday, 12-Jan-2008 12:21:05 PST)
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 28 2020, @03:53PM (1 child)
Destroy it. Duh.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 28 2020, @07:18PM
Twenty years ago: trying to stop open source is like trying to use your hands to prevent the ocean tide from coming in, or block the sunlight from reaching the earth.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday December 28 2020, @07:16PM (2 children)
Microsoft ❤️ Linux
Foxes ❤️ Chickens
Sharks ❤️ Fish
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @03:04AM
Cut off their air supply.
(Score: 1) by ichthus on Tuesday December 29 2020, @07:52PM
Agreed. This seems like a spider & fly scenario.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 29 2020, @04:00AM
nt
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Tuesday December 29 2020, @06:44PM
With all the features you love...
Including...
- - Telemetry
- - Blue Screen of Death
- - Forced Updates and Reboots
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P