Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb) [LWN.net]

Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb)

Posted Aug 1, 2003 12:55 UTC (Fri) by dbhost (guest, #3461)
Parent article: Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb)

This is newsworthy how?
Microsoft has had various Linux distributions and OSS installed in lab environments since I believe 1997. If you think Microsoft is considering building and shipping their own distro you need to stay off the smoke for a while... it ain't gonna happen. This is most likely nothing more than an attempt to funble through an inept setup of a Linux network, set it next to a fully tweaked Windows network, and then brag how Windows will run faster or some crap like that. You know this would be like Ford comparing the latest Mustang GT against a top of the line Lamborghini, and pulling four of the Lambo's spark plugs before running the "unbiased" tests. This is a whole lotta nothing.

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move along

Posted Aug 1, 2003 14:39 UTC (Fri) by Peter (guest, #1127) [Link]

This is newsworthy how?

It's not, agreed.

I'll go further. Come on, people, there is nothing unusual or suspicious about an OS vendor having a Linux test lab. It is useful for running compatibility tests (ok, ok, so they could be aiming for incompatibility in some cases, but whatever), and usability tests, and just plain trying to figure out what features to add to the Windows server line.

This is no, repeat no different from Jody Goldberg running Microsoft Excel to get ideas for features and behaviors to add to Gnumeric. Or Samba developers running a network of various Windows boxes in order to do research and testing. Or Mozilla developers installing Opera to see what innovations they might wish to copy. (Yes, as it happens, I do have a pet peeve with people talking about how innovative the Open Source process is and demonstrating this mainly with Mozilla's Opera-esque features. Thanks for asking.)

Basically all this "news" means is that Microsoft takes Unix and Linux seriously as a competitor, and they want to make sure they can compete effectively on the basis of features in the latter. There's nothing wrong with this, fear-mongering about monopolistic practices aside.

move along

Posted Aug 1, 2003 22:01 UTC (Fri) by dsime (guest, #5764) [Link]

What makes you so sure that they aren't looking for innovations to invent or maybe some good patentable algorithms?

move along

Posted Aug 3, 2003 11:40 UTC (Sun) by Peter (guest, #1127) [Link]

What makes you so sure that they aren't looking for innovations to invent or maybe some good patentable algorithms?

Let 'em look. Linux systems have nothing to hide. As for "inventing" innovations, it's not like anyone other than the trade rag journalists actually believes they invent anything anymore.

And as for new patents, it's kind of hard to enforce a patent against an implementation older than your file date. (And thanks to the open development process, this is pretty easy to document.) So - let 'em file the patent - it won't be enforceable (read: relevent) anyway.

To be honest it's a bit funny hearing open source proponents get all hot and bothered about a proprietary software company potentially chasing their taillights. (:

move along

Posted Aug 8, 2003 23:22 UTC (Fri) by wweber (guest, #11678) [Link]

Another idea just occurred to me: Maybe MicroSoft is studying a GNU server setup so they can work out a way to remotely turn it off, just like those new programs they're going to sell. Or maybe they are trying to figure out how to write a source file with code that will crash the server on command, a very secret command, and then get someone to submit the file as a contribution to the Kernel. New kind of "poison pill".