This blog (post) has some interesting info on this.
...This post wouldn't have been possible without Kaushik - he called me up this morning and said that he had spied a familiar name on the Linux 1.0 contributors file. And since the chances of 2 people with the name Raymond Chen and working at Microsoft were pretty slim, we got pretty interested.
A bit of Googling lead us to this page (http://grumbeer.dyndns.org/ftp/mail/v5/digest363) which has an email that Raymond Chen has typed out back in 1993. The first thing that strikes you is his Microsoft id. I was taken aback - a Microsoft employee contributing to Linux code? That too kernel level stuff - not some fringe OSS project? Seems like things were a lot different back then.
Here's a snippet from that mail
From: raymondc@microsoft.com (Raymond Chen)
Subject: New Configure script (and some console patches)
Date: 05 Jun 93 20:23:30 GMT
This patch kit is really *THREE* patches in one.
1. A new Configure script, hopefully easier to use and more
flexible than the current one.
2. A kernel configuration switch to enable high-intensity
background in lieu of blinking foreground characters.
3. A kernel configuration switch to control the destination
of kernel trace messages (printk's).
But the part which I really found interesting was this...the way he signs all his mails.
Thanks.
--
Raymond (just another linux hacker) Chen
Definitely not something you would see nowadays. These days, the very mention of the word 'GPL' might get you into serious trouble in Microsoft - and contributing code is definitely unthinkable.I guess back then , Linux was considered more of a hobbyist-thing rather than a future competitor. But I'm only guessing here. An interesting question that arises is the effects of the viral nature of the GPL. If he had worked on GPL code back then, is he 'infected'? Well - I'm no expert in these issues, but its interesting all the same.
Before all the Linux supporters jump to any conspiracy theory, I would just like to point out that the only thing this points out is the amazing versatility and skill exhibited by most Microsoft devs and Raymond in particular. This is a guy who knows both Windows and Linux inside out.Awesome!!!
I would really like it if Raymond comes and tells us a bit about his past - especially the 'just another linux hacker' days:-)....
Just take a look at your post. You'll see that OSS makes the same claims too
1. To be the saviour of computing from Microsoft
2. Brag about how 'uber' they are
As for giving those guys a break, sure go ahead. But do you tell people all this when asking them to switch to Firefox? Do you tell them "Err..by the way, if this screws up your computer, don't be harsh on the programmer?".
During the last election, one local political party accused the ruling party of "infecting the voting machines with floppies". Well...needless to say, they were pretty clueless people..and everybody soon forgot about it
Slashdot Mirror
Here's a screenshot of that Atom feed http://svivek.blogspot.com/2004/10/atom-goes-gmail .html
This blog (post) has some interesting info on this.
...This post wouldn't have been possible without Kaushik - he called me up this morning and said that he had spied a familiar name on the Linux 1.0 contributors file. And since the chances of 2 people with the name Raymond Chen and working at Microsoft were pretty slim, we got pretty interested.
A bit of Googling lead us to this page (http://grumbeer.dyndns.org/ftp/mail/v5/digest363) which has an email that Raymond Chen has typed out back in 1993. The first thing that strikes you is his Microsoft id. I was taken aback - a Microsoft employee contributing to Linux code? That too kernel level stuff - not some fringe OSS project? Seems like things were a lot different back then.
Here's a snippet from that mail
From: raymondc@microsoft.com (Raymond Chen)
Subject: New Configure script (and some console patches)
Date: 05 Jun 93 20:23:30 GMT
This patch kit is really *THREE* patches in one.
1. A new Configure script, hopefully easier to use and more
flexible than the current one.
2. A kernel configuration switch to enable high-intensity
background in lieu of blinking foreground characters.
3. A kernel configuration switch to control the destination
of kernel trace messages (printk's).
But the part which I really found interesting was this...the way he signs all his mails.
Thanks.
--
Raymond (just another linux hacker) Chen
Definitely not something you would see nowadays. These days, the very mention of the word 'GPL' might get you into serious trouble in Microsoft - and contributing code is definitely unthinkable.I guess back then , Linux was considered more of a hobbyist-thing rather than a future competitor. But I'm only guessing here. An interesting question that arises is the effects of the viral nature of the GPL. If he had worked on GPL code back then, is he 'infected'? Well - I'm no expert in these issues, but its interesting all the same.
Before all the Linux supporters jump to any conspiracy theory, I would just like to point out that the only thing this points out is the amazing versatility and skill exhibited by most Microsoft devs and Raymond in particular. This is a guy who knows both Windows and Linux inside out.Awesome!!!
I would really like it if Raymond comes and tells us a bit about his past - especially the 'just another linux hacker' days :-) ....
Just take a look at your post. You'll see that OSS makes the same claims too 1. To be the saviour of computing from Microsoft 2. Brag about how 'uber' they are As for giving those guys a break, sure go ahead. But do you tell people all this when asking them to switch to Firefox? Do you tell them "Err..by the way, if this screws up your computer, don't be harsh on the programmer?".
I just posted a review of WMP10 over here http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/sriram/archive/200 4/06/02/15310.aspx.
Verdict - Great work - but not the best around
During the last election, one local political party accused the ruling party of "infecting the voting machines with floppies". Well...needless to say, they were pretty clueless people..and everybody soon forgot about it
Wait a minute ....
Is this one of these April Fool pranks?
My peeve is against those who use spreadsheets as databases. Repeat after me...Excel is not a database. Excel is not a database