Microsoft embraces GPL, opens Hyper-V to Linux with LinuxIC
Old dogs may struggle with new tricks, but they seem to be able to figure out new licenses.
In a shocking move, Microsoft announced Monday the release of Hyper-V Linux Integration Components (LinuxIC).
The news reflects Microsoft's continued interest in lobotomizing its virtualization competition through low prices, but also the recognition that it must open up if it wants to fend off insurgent virtualization strategies from Red Hat, Novell, and others in the open-source camp.
But the truly startling news is that LinuxIC is being released under the GNU General Public License (version 2). Microsoft once called GPL anti-American. Now it calls it friend.
The gods must be crazy.
Or maybe Microsoft is simply recognizing (finally!) that GPL can be a capitalist's close ally. That and the fact that many components within the Linux kernel are GPLv2-licensed make the move completely natural...at least, once you forget that this is Microsoft embracing GPL, rather than some other company like Red Hat.
LinuxIC is a collection of kernel drivers that enable Linux to recognize that it is running on Microsoft's Hyper-V and optimize accordingly, resulting in an "enlightened version of Linux," according to market researcher IDC. The device drivers have yet to be accepted into the Linux kernel, but the GPL license and general utility makes their inclusion probable.
The move opens up Hyper-V to much more than Windows, which has arguably been its weakest point. As IDC notes, this embrace of Linux is a "key element if Microsoft is going to successfully go head to head with VMware in large accounts--many of which already are dedicated VMware customers."
Importantly, Microsoft is now opening up even beyond its long-time Linux partner, Novell, to embrace an array of other Linux partners, including Red Hat. While Novell was the first Linux vendor to certify for Hyper-V, Microsoft's lack of real support beyond Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server was a weakness, as some have complained.
But this is arguably a new Microsoft. Redmond recently announced that Office 2010 will support Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox. The company is learning that its customers run heterogeneous software environments, and it's (slowly) responding. Microsoft's Sam Ramji, senior director of Platform Strategy, notes: "We are seeing Microsoft communities and open source communities grow together, which is ultimately of benefit to our customers."
Microsoft, in short, can't ignore open source, including Linux, without ignoring its own customers.
But surely this move is more Machiavelli than Santa Claus? Maybe, maybe not. I asked Novell's Greg Kroah-Hartman, a prominent Linux kernel developer who was deeply involved in influencing Microsoft to release LinuxIC, what Microsoft's move means for Linux. His response reflects an enthusiasm that is as surprising as it is refreshing:
We want Linux to work well for everybody. This move is not bad in any way for Linux, Xen (Novell's preferred virtualization technology), or KVM (Red Hat's preferred virtualization technology). This is not a competition, per se.
With LinuxIC, Microsoft is doing two things. First, it's saying that contributing open-source software under GPL is acceptable. And second, it's supporting the idea, which I and others in the Linux kernel community have long advanced, that all Linux kernel drivers should be open source.
LinuxIC is the latest example of how Microsoft is changing, and it's a big proof point. When Microsoft embraces Linux, that's news. When it does so by embracing GPL, it's perhaps time to start the countdown to Armageddon.
Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
Is Microsoft just going to stand by and have Oracle monopolize that sector?
Thanks, but no thanks. The whole 'Instance' thing is nice and all, but between Oracle, MySQL, Postgres, and the like, I doubt 1) that MS SQL server would get much traction, or 2) that anyone would believe that Microsoft would make it perform as well as it would on Windows (and since Microsoft wouldn't want to miss a chance to sell a Windows Server license along with its SQL Server license...)
SQL Server on Linux is akin to Office on Linux, it will happen but please wait in a comfortable position and carry a bucket full of patience...
Alas, just as 1-2-3, dBASE IV and DB/2 for Windows, some companies in the end get it right, but when they finally do, the market has just side-stepped them and moved on to something completely new.
Now if Microsoft made all of Hyper-V (or at least its core components) licensed under the GPL, then we'd have some real shock value.
Last time I checked, VMWare ESX isn't open source, either...
That said, I'm merely pressing the point that Microsoft's move with a couple of Linux drivers is certainly not the shock that some folks make it out to be. What would be shocking is if Microsoft took the same route Apple did (OSX' core is open source), or even VMWare (whose control VM is open source - specifically, it runs Linux.
Good luck finding vmkernel and VMFS there...
The point is simply that if Microsoft wanted to "shock", they'll have to try harder than today's announced event.
The amazing part is, I never figured a zealot to be so eager to discount that Microsoft has released GPL - licensed software before...
As a user I'm getting the feeling that MS is acknowledging that it should listen to the costumers, understands that it can't ignore what they want, and understands that things are changing and that they need to adapt.
This is good for the users, and I hope that MS continue this way.
- Will Rogers
"Microsoft embraces GPL"
and
"RIAA claims 'DRM is dead'"
What a day!
This is the same corporation that recently succeeded in extorting money from Melco Holdings Inc. Melco, along with Brother among others, pay Microsoft to use Linux... Its called extortion. You know, that little criminal offense people go to jail for ? And then we have Steven VanRoekel, named managing director of the Federal Communications Commission: A Microsoft guy... Oh I know you'll say ex-Microsoft, but when you've dealt with Microsoft as long as I have, you know that's like saying someone is ex-CIA...
And that's only in the last few days... Perhaps you need to read the ECIS document as a primer to cure you of some of that ignorance... ISO/ECMA/OOXML/MS-ODF/MS-DoJ/Novell... etc... Shall we delve into Microsoft's past and recent history ? I watched as they neutered threats to their monopoly that include hardware as well as software, I've watched as they strangled distribution channels and threatened OEM's and ISV's.
Why don't you ask Asus why their ARM based Snapdragon prototype netbook running Android, vanished from Computex ?
Why don't you ask the NSW DET (Australia) why, after rejecting Linux options suggesting they didn't want to use schoolchildren as guinea pigs, they rolled out Lenovo netbooks with Windows 7 release candidate on them ? Why don't you ask the same folks in Victoria why Windows netbooks are subsidized to be cheaper than Linux netbooks with lower specced hardware, while the Linux netbooks aren't ? The Microsoft monopoly, subsidized with taxpayer dollars.
Why don't you ask the likes of Net Applications who's proverbial they pull their figures from ? And who their biggest client is ? I'll give you one guess...
Why don't you ask Gartner why they fed Acer with anti-Linux misinformation thinly veiled in a cozy market stats presentation to pass on to ISV's ? (I attended one of these presentations) I'll give you one guess who Gartner's biggest client is too...
And were barely scraping the tip of the iceberg here. Microsoft is the worst criminal monopoly since Standard Oil and you're preaching the party line about how Microsoft is "embracing" the GPL ??! Microsoft NEVER embraces any competitor or competing technology without an Extend and Extinguish plan. NEVER ! If you trust them you are not merely naive, you are a complete idiot because after a couple of decades of this farce you ought to know better by now !
I'm sick and tired of the damage Microsoft does to IT and to consumers worldwide as well as in my little corner of the IT world. And I'm sick and tired of the lack of reporting of what's really going on. Shame on journalists and bloggers worldwide who just parrot the same old crap Microsoft dishes out month after month.
SHAME ON YOU !!!!!
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- by grparodies July 22, 2009 9:47 PM PDT
- Check out ?I GPL?ed?, a parody on "I Kissed a Girl" about Microsoft contributing source code to Linux http://grparodies.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8D46EE7567E84D1F!134.entry #geekrock #nerdcore
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