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Microsoft Launches Linux Labs Website

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the getting-the-message-out dept.

mjdroner writes "ZDNet is reporting that Microsoft is launching a website to 'share the activities of its internal Linux laboratories.' Microsoft says its goal is to foster communication with those who use open-source. The article also mentions that Microsoft runs a 300-server Linux installation to test open-source products." From the article: "Customers will be able to submit requests to Microsoft employees. For example, a person could ask how to best test the use of Linux desktops working with Microsoft's directory software. In addition, Port 25 will do video interviews with Microsoft employees with experience in the open-source or Unix world, Hilf said."

13 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. Its a trap! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm serious.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
    1. Re:Its a trap! by Atzanteol · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think it's time "itsatrap" becomes a tag on slashdot...

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
  2. Can only imagine first email by caffiend666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello dear friend,

    While this message my come as a surprise to you, I have spent extensive time trying to port MS Windows applications to Linux. After my company (Loki Software) went bankrupt, the CEO mistakingly transferred $100m (One Hundred Million US Dollars) to my Nigerian bank account and I am looking for a partner in transferring this money back to the United States. In exchange for this service....
    --
    Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
  3. Documentation! by XanC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it possible that MS could document the protocol, then we wouldn't have this problem?

    1. Re:Documentation! by bugg · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Did you just make the argument that networking protocols are "innermost workings" of an operating system?

      They're not inner at all, they're outer: they're designed to be used with others. I do believe this is an important distinction...

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      -bugg
    2. Re:Documentation! by spanommers · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Having spent a summer at Microsoft, I can verify that Microsoft does, in fact, treat protocols as "innermost workings." They are treated as intellectual property, and when the protocols are good, that means they are valuable business assets. Interoperability is not a metric for many protocols (unless you consider different versions of Windows).

  4. Re:Then stop breaking things by psocccer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually it was apparently a security fix, I recently went through this since we're migrating to XP and samba 3.x + ldap. There is a setting in the group policy editor for checking ownership of roaming profiles in SP1. You have to disable this check by enabling the "Do not check ownership" thing. There are details here, but once you're done it all works fine.

    --
    Free Online Woodworking Resources Directory
  5. What a world we live in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    First Apple lets people install Windows then Microsoft lets its own people install Linux.
    Whats next ?
    Balmer takes an anger management course and Steve Jobs changes his appearence ?

  6. Re:It's the fox in sheeps clothing by vandon · · Score: 5, Insightful
    For all of these years M$ has tried to Buy, steal or distroy anything to do with Linux, Then why do they want to be so nice to anyone dealing with Linux, Be afraid.

    It's pretty simple. They've tried killing, buying, and trashing Linux. It's not going away. So now the question is 'How can I make money off of Linux?' This is market research to find out what MS-Linux interoperability tools people may need and how to best sell them.
  7. In other words by jlebrech · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft Linux Virus Labs

  8. In other news... by init100 · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...Microsoft urges UK PC vendors to not sell PC's without an OS, since this is a missed opportunity to market their software and services. They also claim that so called naked PCs are often used to install pirated copies of Microsoft software.

    Note that they do not specifically mention that this OS is Windows, but I think it is implied between the lines. It is also common knowledge that BSA counts systems sold without a commercial OS as using a pirated OS, which means that computers running Linux or other F/OSS OS'es are included in their piracy statistics.

  9. Open Source cannot be extended by Yuioup · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ah but everyone... here's the catch...

    OPEN SOURCE CANNOT BE EXTENDED. At least not the way Microsoft wants it to be.

    Why? Because it's based on open collaboration and open standards. It's a collective which cannot be controlled. What happens if Microsoft tries to control OSS? Simple. You fork it. What happens when Microsoft tries to find a way to exclusivly make money off of OSS? Simple. You make a free (beer, speech) alternative and put all the documentation on-line. All of it.

    You see, Open Source cannot be killed. That's the beauty of the whole concept. Cut off one head and another grows... and I mean it in a good sense.

  10. 99 comments by Captain+DaFt · · Score: 5, Funny

    And yet nobody has yet said:
      "Finally! The ease of linux combined with the security of Windows!"

    Really guys we're slipping here.

    --
    The U.S. really needs an English to Wisdom dictionary.