Slashdot Mirror
Ask Microsoft's Linux Lab Manager
Microsoft Linux Lab Manager Bill Hilf has been mentioned on Slashdot before, not to mention (as you might expect) on Microsoft Watch. His latest high profile coworker, Daniel Robbins, has also gotten a bit of Slashdot attention. Got any questions for Bill he hasn't already answered elsewhere? Post them below (one per post, please). We'll send him 10 - 12 of the highest-moderated ones and post his answers next Monday.
Dear Mr. Hilf - Surely by now you have to have been accused of helping Microsoft try to exterminate Linux. How do you respond to such accusations?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
How does Microsoft internally deal with Open Standards and Open Document Formats?
I suppose more generally: In your testing is it solely relegated to Linux in the Server role, or do you address End-User issues as well
I'd like to step aside from all the hardware and software questions people are going to throw at you and focus on a more tangible topic: footware. When someone like yourselves accept a job stomping on baby ducks all day, do you invest in new boots, or do you just come to work in whatever old shoes you have in your closet?
Appreciatively,
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
No doubt one of the activities of microsoft's linux lab is testing the security of linux.
My question is this: if you find a security vulnerability in linux, do you inform the linux community about it?
I just went through integrating a linux server on the Windows 2003 Active Directory network here, and though it took some commandline work and messing with pam.d and samba, it wasn't actually that hard to get it joined up to the domain. Now everyone who has a login and password can login locally, as well as via SSH/sftp and jabber.
I'm glad that Microsoft is letting linux/unix machines integrate at least somewhat, but it would please me to no end to see Microsoft extending their existing Unix services for Windows servers. I know that unix services exist for Windows servers, but we just haven't needed to install them yet (no need for LDAP at this point).
P.S. I hope they keep you around for a while!
What are your marching orders for the Linux lab? (are you looking at interoperability with Windows - or is there something else on the agenda?)
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
We've heard a lot about MS having a lower TCO etc., and who knows it may even be true in some cases, but does Microsoft realise that the reason some of us is on Linux is for the "Free as in Freedom" part? This may matter not to the PHBs, but some of the Linux users MS is trying to court such as HPC consist of engineers and scientists who operate things like particle accelerators and are unfazed by the "complexity" of Linux and appreciate the freedom to be able to customise it to their needs? Can Microsoft ever be as liberal with their operating system as Linux developers are with Linux?
sometimes the responses of people like him help the rest of us weedout the malcontents who are a big disservice to the /. community.
/. by editing your user preferences.
A lot of what is rated insightful/informative here sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. It can be hard to distinquish between agenda and fact.
I would love to see even more of these interviews. Finally you can elect to not see these on
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Doesn't working at MS isolate you somewhat from the OSS community? What do you do to keep your OSS perspective and skills current?
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
What prompted you to accept a position at Microsoft knowing their past dealings with the Open Source OS, or what told you that taking this position was not a waste of time?
Quid Pro Quo, nothing more, nothing less.
While Windows does have many advantages over Linux, I still find that Linux has many good nich areas where Microsoft can't and shouldn't compete in, such as rapid development of appliance like solutions, where the case of finding a low end box (In my case usually Sun Sparc Classics) and downloading a version of Linux and configuring it for headless task(s). This is extremely affordable to my clients in the short and long term. So the question is why isn't Microsoft working harder to make tools that allow Linux to better communicate with Windows? When there is an issue of poor communication between Linux and Windows I usually need to configure Windows to communicate with the Linux box better, which may or may not work 100% and because it is running on Windows it makes Windows look bad. Even if Microsoft released some closed source or Shared source code that would allow better communication between the two platforms would make my job and my clients lives much easer and affordable.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
When will MS Word finally get with the times and have a fully-featured standards-compliant Lisp interperter?!!!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Basically by working on interpolating with Linux, you are also working on creating software that better complies with open standards. Bill Gates has often preached a closed source model, most famously his point counter point letter against open source. It is almost certain that you will be making it easier for your competition gain an edge. Which goes against the grain of every policy and business practice Microsoft has employed since its conception. What about today's market leads you to believe this is a good move for Microsoft?
Re-reading what I wrote it does seem like *major* troll material. I'm sorry, but I've been involved in too many PR and marketing meetings with technology companies to think otherwise. Microsoft is taking all of this very seriously - having a "dialogue" with the constituents of open source to to appear like a team player. If I were to create a media plan as to where one needed to shape opinion Slashdot would be at the top of the list in big bold type since it is a gathering place of thought leaders who don't particularly espouse the MS POV.
-_-
The subject says it all (mostly).
One of the primary reasons Linux is somewhat inferior to commerical offierings when considered as a general-purpose dektop operating system is that there is a lack of a single guiding human interface standard for the various groups to work toward. Companies such as Apple Computer and Microsoft have invested large amounts of money in human interface studies, and although much of this information has been made readily accessible to the public, it would appear that very little of that information has been put to good use by F/OSS developers.
With Apple using the BSD branch of software as it's operating system core, do you see a future for a Microsoft-branded Linux distribution, using a Microsoft-developed HCI design?
Though there is a large amount of enmity in the F/OSS community toward Microsoft, it cannot be denied that Microsoft's development methods are demonstrably capable of producing quality software. Could Microsoft serve as a catalyst for consolidation within the community, while remaining true to the F/OSS philosophy? Could such a strategy be profitable for Microsoft?
Is one of your projects to assist in analyzing Samba source code to help coworkers better understand the SMB protocol?
(Shameless, I know...)
"Truth is not decided by majority vote" consensus gentium -- Norman Geisler
Have you ever managed to get any of the big shots (for example, Gates) to sit down and try Linux for a few minutes? If so, what did they say? If not, why not? Did they have an allergic reaction and try to run away from you, or have you not asked?
I think it would be interesting to hear the opinions of people at Microsoft who actually have tried Linux (with KDE, OpenOffice, Firefox, etc.), versus the standard "Linux is evil" public relations line.
Microsoft has long offered Services for Unix free for download to provide a unix-like environment on Windows. I've seen rumors and speculation that SFU will be included by default in Windows Vista, with some GPL'd portions replaced or rewritten to maintain compliance. If it's true, what level of functionality and compatibility can we expect?
My question is this: if you find a security vulnerability in linux, do you inform the linux community about it?
Yes, we immediately publish Linux vulnerabilities in our marketting literature and immediately distribute this literature widely to IT decision makers and other professionals.
Having been in IT a looong time, I'm pretty familiar with all of the major players.
All of them have their +'s and -'s, but one of my biggest gripes about Microsoft is that instead of trying to leverage OSS, they continually try to crush or marginalize it. Over time I find myself less and less likely to consider a Microsoft solution because I know that over time Microsoft will try and make that solution less interoperable with all of my other solutions.
Microsoft would sell more software to me if I could be sure that they are NOT going to try and lock out all of my other platforms going forward.
Given your current position, does it look as if Microsoft will continue to try and marginalize OSS, or will they do an about face and work to try and ensure ongoing interoperability?
Eschew Obfuscation
Or "all the wonderful new features in LongBlow" - that have been subsequently gutted.
- or the eye candy we've had for years under Linux/KDE, that Windows users are finally getting ...
Zealot? No, just someone who's abandoned Windows as not being either efficient or cost-competitive. Since when does wanting to save money and time equate with being a zealot?
I've been using a Linux desktop for several years now. I develop software for Unix and Linux based systems. All of the tools I use are either open source, or have documented APIs.
Why would I ever consider, let alone recomend, a Microsoft product?
What is Microsoft's general position on the open-source projects that are porting .NET to Linux (and other platforms)? Are there any plans to restrict parts of the .NET framework (e.g. WinForms) from being ported?
.NET and would like to hear something reassuring from Microsoft that they won't hinder in any way the development and use of .NET on other platforms. We all know what happened to DR.DOS...
Basically, I'm a fan of
Hey... truths hurt. Reboot your XP box and deal.
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Whats the deal with NTFS? Why not open it for better support on both ends?
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