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Linux Receives 20th Birthday Video From Microsoft

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-want-cake-too dept.

moonbender writes "The Linux kernel has received birthday wishes from an unexpected direction — a video animation from Microsoft. Quoting The H: 'The video picks up on the strained relationship between Microsoft and Linux by displaying the phrase "Microsoft Vs. Linux" and then showing Tux, the Linux mascot, turning his back on the offer of a birthday cake from Microsoft. After a brief outline of the history between Microsoft and Linux, the video ends with a conciliatory gesture: Tux accepts the birthday cake in his igloo and the video ends with "Happy Birthday" and the editing of the initial phrase to "Microsoft and Linux?' The Linux Foundation has more stuff celebrating the kernel's 20th birthday."

7 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft and Open Source in General by RazzleFrog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With the way the Apple juggernaut has been steamrolling it would make sense to me for Microsoft and Open Source in general to find a way of co-existing. Say what you want about Microsoft, but Apple's heavy-handed, strict controls and policies makes Microsoft look like a pussy cat in comparison.

    1. Re:Microsoft and Open Source in General by Eponymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why didn't you just use sed?

  2. There is no Microsoft vs Linux by cobbaut · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Only a small (though loud) minority of Linux users believes in a Microsoft vs Linux fight. Linux was created in 1991 to be a POSIX compliant kernel, not to be a competitor to MS. The GNU tools were created to have a free Unix. GNU + Linux is a fine example of open source in the Unix world, and is definitely not a reaction/fight/whatever towards Microsoft.

    --
    European Linux user, living in Antwerp
    1. Re:There is no Microsoft vs Linux by Sique · · Score: 5, Informative

      Quoting Linus Torvalds:

      Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    2. Re:There is no Microsoft vs Linux by oGMo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Only a small (though loud) minority of Linux users believes in a Microsoft vs Linux fight. Linux was created in 1991 to be a POSIX compliant kernel, not to be a competitor to MS.

      This isn't how it works, though. For those of us who actually remember MS in the 90s (and onto the 00s), it MS vs Linux simply because Linux had the potential to (and, obviously eventually has) become a huge competitor in the server and corporate market if never the desktop market. This is from Microsoft's perspective. Linux was not created as a competitor, but they eventually saw it that way, and have had any number of anti-Linux and anti-FOSS marketing campaigns over the past decade or so, in addition to incompatible changes to protocols, trying to not interoperate, hijack open standards, and simply give their stuff away to keep people from switching.

      It's nice that they want to whitewash history and pretend Linux was the snobby competitor that has eventually come to play nicely with them, but it's quite the opposite. If anything, this is the indication we've moved from "then they fight you" to "then you win".

      --

      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  3. Re:Everybody aboard the tinfoilhat-train! by Dot.Com.CEO · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have some cake and chill out dude...

    --
    Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
  4. Yes there is by pavon · · Score: 5, Informative

    There may not be a Linux vs Microsoft fight, but there is definitely a Microsoft vs Linux fight. In their own words:

    * OSS poses a direct, short-term revenue and platform threat to Microsoft, particularly in server space. Additionally, the intrinsic parallelism and free idea exchange in OSS has benefits that are not replicable with our current licensing model and therefore present a long term developer mindshare threat.

    * OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market.

    * They have paid for numerous "independent" studies to show that Linux and LAMP are inferior to Windows and IIS.
    * Leaked emails have shown them to have been funneling money to SCO via Baystar.
    * They continue to spread FUD about patent licensing, and have sued major Android manufacturers for patent royalties.

    They clearly see this as an Us vs Them situation. We don't have to respond likewise, but it would be foolish not to acknowledge their intentions.