Peachy Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Well, unless you're a virtualization junkie like me you may have missed today's announcement from Microsoft that they have released 20,000 lines of source code as GPLv2 to be incorporated into the Linux kernel. This code represents the drivers for Linux required to make physical machines easy to migrate to virtual machines and run in Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization software. The binaries have been freely available since September 2008, but this release today is unprecedented. Microsoft says it will maintain the code. Novell says it will be immediately backporting the driver into SUSE Enterprise Linux. The driver is scheduled to be incorporated into the 2.6.32 Linux kernel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Oh my! I wonder what brought this on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Apparently, Greg Kroah-Hartman negotiated on behalf of the Linux Driver Project to get Microsoft to open source the drivers. He'd noticed that Microsoft was giving away free the binaries for Red Hat and SUSE so he managed to convince them it was in their best interest to GPL the source code so that all Linux distros could benefit. For Microsoft the benefit is that it will tempt companies that have Linux boxes that want to virtualize them to use Hyper-V instead of say, VMware ESX. They've already helped out Citrix with XenServer drivers for Linux distros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urmas Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Although the latest move is clearly designed to bolster Windows as a hosting environment for servers running both Linux and Windows, to me there is something slightly discordant about adding code to something you feel is already infringing on your intellectual property. Perhaps, though, that's just the very definition of co-opetition.Microsoft is in an interesting position--seeking to compete with Linux while also understanding that many companies run both operating systems. Not only is it about making its business customers happy, but there is good money to be made by owning the management and virtualization layers, even if there is some Linux running atop Microsoft's stack. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10290818...col;mlt_related Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybormoron Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Microsoft's Linux Kernel Code Drop Result of GPL Violationhttp://www.osnews.com/story/21882/Microsof...f_GPL_Violation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 More explaining . . and Linus Torvalds gives his perspective Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 I quite agree with Linus's assessment. In the end it doesn't matter what your politics are as long as the code is good and useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Microsoft opened Linux-driver code after 'violating' GPLhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/23/mi..._gpl_violation/http://www.osnews.com/story/21882/Microsof...f_GPL_Violation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Microsoft: GPL Contribution Not Brought on by GPL ViolationUhm, yeah, whatever....http://www.osnews.com/story/21892/Microsof...y_GPL_Violationhttp://port25.technet.com/archive/2009/07/...nt-drivers.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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