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Microsoft Using Linux To Optimize Skype Traffic
An anonymous reader writes "A security researcher believes that Microsoft has overhauled Skype, with thousands of Linux boxes serving as the 'supernodes' that route calls between users of the voice-over-IP service. Kostya Kortchinsky of Immunity Security 'discovered the Linux supernodes using a Skype probing technique he and colleague Fabrice Desclaux first demonstrated in 2006,' according to Ars Technica. The drastic infrastructure change doesn't affect the peer-to-peer nature of the calls between Skype users."
These intermediary nodes are only needed because we've broken the end-to-end principle - the idea that any Internet endpoint can talk to any other. We need to wean ourselves off NAT and start to demand native IPv6.
To gloat over the irony of Microsoft using cheap UNIX boxes for P2P infrastructure. Even in 2012, Microsoft is still the bogeyman here.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Well, very appropriate considering Microsoft's position on Linux and Free Software was that they were a "cancer" (their words, not mine). So maybe giving them a ribbing at this news isn't unjustified.
I've never understood why people get all shocked when someone uses a competitor's product when theirs can do the job too. Well, Linux is a better platform for embedded applications, single-purpose servers, etc. It is much more efficient because there's no GUI to drive and only the bare minimum needs to be loaded in memory. Even the kernel can be stripped down to only essential modules, and it can be tweaked for realtime applications.
Windows servers aren't designed for that.
Eat your own dog food.
If Windows Server isn't secure enough or powerful enough to do the job, maybe Microsoft should revisit their design choices.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
They likely couldn't afford the cost of the server licenses.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
What are you talking about? Microsoft has contributed tons of patches and other stuff to, for example, Linux. They have actively worked to make it more compatible with Windows.
Hell, they have an open source project hosting at CodePlex.
At least try to get your facts straight instead of the pure hate. But I saw what happened when Microsoft guys reached out and asked for comments about their open source offering on Slashdot. You can still read it too, Microsoft Wants Your Feedback On Its New Python IDE.
Good to hear that Skype will be a bit less fly-by-night and will have better call performance. But for two years now, the interface has been getting progressively worse and Skype credits have been exchanging for fewer and fewer minutes. The current version has no compact buddy list, requires a subscription for multiparty video, has giant ads on a useless "home" screen, and wants me to issue facebook updates of some shit. I have never uninstalled anything so fast in my life.
Balance the traffic all you want, Microsoft. Skype is a sinking ship if you don't make it lighter, prettier, and cheaper.
Words uttered in 2001. Words which more than anything exhibit Ballmer's (mis)understanding of how GPL and other open source licenses work, and also how cancer in general works.
Like the AC said, even in 2012 MS is still the bogeyman.
This is such tripe. These patches are to get it working well on their hypervisor. It's not like they were improving scheduling performance, patching security holes, or implementing drivers. They want Linux to work better running under Windows.
Why is this interesting / amusing ? .NET, Office Open document format, Sync framework for examples)
Technically using Linux or some other unix as a supernode is fine, probably a better solution than Windows server - but this is Microsoft, the dominant operating system provider; very much the competitor to Linux. they *could* use a competitor's solution but traditionally Microsoft reinvents the wheel rather than do this (see Silverlight, XPS,
Choosing Linux rather than their own OS product for this task seems like bad PR especailly after publicly criticising Linux as an insecure, slow, potentially IP-violating OS platform.
You may recall they were "caught" using FreeBSD for hotmail after acquiring that service - and eventually migrated it to Windows.
I'm guessing there will soon be a "WinMin" or Windows server core based platform that hosts this instead of Linux.
So what? Why should the average person care?
Oddly enough, they shouldn't care because hell has frozen over and Microsoft is using Linux.
They should care because Microsoft is taking steps to centralise what was a peer-to-peer telephony system. By adding supernodes that they control, they are positioning Skype to transition to a system where everybody's data goes through Microsoft servers rather than direct person to person.
They're happy to have us discussing Linux because the privacy implications are what they don't want us talking about.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Uhhh...where have YOU been? didn't you get the memo? hell the only reason SUSE has a pulse is because MSFT has spent hundreds of millions buying SUSE Linux licenses to bundle with WinServer packages so MSFT has been making money off of Linux for years now. That of course isn't counting the tons of money they make by trolling Android OEMs for the LULZ so the only real shock is that so many of those that go nuts over FOSS hasn't figured out that MSFT is making money hand over fist off all their free work.
As far as privacy? I guess you missed the memo from the head of Google saying privacy was dead too huh? Hell the users hand all their data over to FB and Twitter and Google now anyway, so why should they give a shit about phone calls? I mean have you seen the kind of dumbshit people tweet or post to FB? You got morons bragging about crimes, smoking dope or piss faced drunk, nobody has any shame or common sense anymore, I'm starting to think the conspiracy nuts are right and there is something in the water because i don't remember people being this ignorant nor as exhibitionist when I was a kid. Frankly privacy went the way of the 8-track when all the smart phones came with cameras and upload to social media features. Unless you want to pull a Michael Jackson and run around in a mask everything you do will end up on somebody's FB page anyway, just give it up.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Apparently, you either failed to read or failed to comprehend the article. In this case, Microsoft has deployed 10,000 Linux servers essentially to replace a larger number of Windows machines (the supernodes that ran on individual desktops). This is a new deployment of a new type of server (a dedicated supernode).
So this is not case of Microsoft just delaying a switchover from Linux to Windows, it represents Microsoft choosing to use Linux for a new task.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
And it's therefore ironic that the development of Skype on Linux has been abandoned, it's been stuck at version 2.2 Beta for over a year now.
Price was not obviously the reason for this decision.
Total Cost of Ownership.
"I'm not much interested in interoperability. I want substitutability. I want to be able to throw your software out."
Correct.
In the early days of Skype, any machine with a direct connection to the internet could find itself being a supernode (which really handled setting up connections for firewalled machines, not all of the traffic for those machines).
Later Skype decided to create farms of supernodes for this and stop using end-user machines for this purpose. (Mostly because it was getting harder and harder to find non-firewalled machines). They haven't used individual desktops for supernodes for a long time.
So other than the scale of the deployment, the fact that Microsoft deliberately chose to avoid windows for this purpose is significant.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
They aren't irrelevant, but they don't have the influence they once did. XBox hasn't made them much money, but it's probably their most respected consumer product. Microsoft is really just an Office + Windows company selling to corporations these days. They are interesting in the same way that Oracle or Cisco are interesting.
They have a huge pile of cash, so you can never count them out, but I would say their bullying is over (except for patent trolling) because they have lost their best talent. They are trying to compete with a B-level team.
Personally I find Win7 to be good enough that I am ok with shelling out the 165 USD it cost here in Norway.
Each to their own and all that though. I use ubuntu on my file/media/web server and find that to be the best solution for me there.
Dear Recently Acquired Skype Division:
Please abandon your entire Linux infrastructure, like, right after you read this. I know the market is hypercompetitive, but we really need you to spend 2 years rebuilding everything from scratch on Windows Server, because if word got out that one of our divisions is using Linux, the slashdot community will go ape shit. In the meanwhile, you'll still be accountable to shareholders for revenue, so figure out how to make money after your service goes down for 2 years. Maybe you can sell chocolate bars or have a bake sale or something.
Yours,
Steve Ballmer
Microsoft Flight is a total joke for the sim crowd. Only someone quite inexperienced when it comes to simulators would think Flight was anything other than lame (eg. any of X-Plane, or DCS:A-10C, or DCS:Ka-50, or the recently released DCS:World, or even Microsoft Flight Sim X are all generally held to be better simulators than Flight - by those in the know).
Visual Studio is the best IDE, if you only develop for Windows (most people do more than Windows, eg the web, iOS etc) if you have never used anything better (and there are better IDEs out there, depending on your needs). Again, this smacks of someone who actually hasn't got much experience with other IDEs.
nb. Nokia is no longer the World's largest phone manufacturer. Recently Samsung overtook them in shipped more units, and furthermore, Apple is the leader in terms of market direction (they lead, others follow). Microsoft is loosing money badly in the mobile space - if it wasn't for their established monopolies they would have exited mobile long ago, but they are desparate to be relevant. Now Microsoft are a generation behind, trying to get into mobiles when Apple has already captured the mindshare of that market and is now moving to the tablet space (where Microsoft is a non-contender at the moment).
XBox360 is winner? they do have higher total sales than PS3, but given their huge lead time it turns out that PS3 has had the better rate of growth in terms of sales (and a better experience, in terms of reliability and game choice).
So, it is good that Microsoft makes you happy. It doesn't make its shareholders happy, and it is rapidly losing relevance compared with its position even five years ago. But by all means, please try and see the good in their products (even though anyone else who has used their competitors products will never go back to the poor-quality Microsoft equivalents).
Words uttered in 2001. Words which more than anything exhibit Ballmer's (mis)understanding of how GPL and other open source licenses work
Words uttered in 2007:
Microsoft claims that free software like Linux, which runs a big chunk of corporate America, violates 235 of its patents. It wants royalties from distributors and users.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/
Words uttered in 2009:
Microsoft has brought a lawsuit against car navigation system manufacturer TomTom. The products in question incorporate Linux, and at least one of the seven patents involved concerns a Linux kernel implementation rather than TomTom's own software. Is this Microsoft's first direct salvo against Linux?
Is this a serious suit, or an effort to stir up fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Linux at a critical time, when government and industry is taking up Open Source in a big way?
http://www.datamation.com/osrc/article.php/3807801/Bruce-Perens-Analyzing-Microsofts-Linux-Lawsuit.htm
Microsoft are just getting media sly. They haven't really changed otherwise.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."