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Microsoft Has Built a Linux Distro

Posted by Soulskill on from the wait-what dept.

jbernardo writes: Microsoft has built a Linux distro, and is using it for their Azure data centers. From their blog post: "It is a cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux." Apparently, the existing SDN (Software Defined Network) implementations didn't fit Microsoft's plans for the ACS (Azure Cloud Switch), so they decided to roll their own infrastructure. No explanation why they settled on Linux, though — could it be that there is no Windows variant that would fit the bill? In other news, Lucifer has been heard complaining of the sudden cold.

4 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong choice by BitZtream · · Score: 4, Informative

    This was just a bad choice. If they wanted a proper software defined network, they'd have selected FreeBSD since it has the fastest, most compact networking stack in the world and its well known/accepted fact by anyone who does high-end networking, hence why Microsoft ALREADY has a fuck ton of FreeBSD installs on their core network labeled ... Juniper Networks ... or F5 ... or any of the other ones.

    Someone deserves to get fired for this. Not because they picked Linux, but because Linux simply wasn't the right choice in any way shape or form as every other major company doing networking has illustrated.

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  2. Re:MS uses what works by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Informative

    The big difference is that the TCP/IP stack used a BSD license but Linux has a GPL license.
    You can use BSD code, add a license notice (on original BSD license) and be done.
    If MS is offering the Linux distro to it's users, then it must make available it's Linux distro's code too.

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  3. So not publically not eating your own dog food by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Informative

    ..is fine, right? When you're trying to sell Windows to the public as a one size fits all OS yet its apparently not good enough to run the network of their own Premier cloud service thats not a problem?

    Give me a break, this has embarrassing U-turn written all over it.

    1. Re:So not publically not eating your own dog food by neilo_1701D · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your comment would be correct 5 years ago.

      Now, cloud services are the thing.

      As an example, the premier ERP solution that Microsoft has, Dynamics AX, is currently totally tied to Windows. The next version, AX 7, changes the game completely. The rich client - the bit the user interacts with - is gone, replaced with a browser-agnostic UI (sporting a Windows 8 Start screen look-and-feel, but that's another story). The server and database components are now running on Azure. Windows has effectively vanished from the equation. And this the flagship ERP application.

      For another example, look at Microsoft Office.

      Microsoft is no longer the company that makes Windows and defends the Windows franchise; it's now services, services, services, and Windows with stand-alone Office etc.