4 ms·

Microsoft is not the same company it was 25 years ago, much less 3 years ago. Microsoft cares about Azure now, and Azure requires GNU/Linux. It just makes sense

Microsoft is not the same company it was 25 years ago, much less 3 years ago. Microsoft cares about Azure now, and Azure requires GNU/Linux. It just makes sense for Microsoft to do this, and I for one am pretty excited about it.

takeda 11y ago
Well... back in the day Microsoft also was the company everyone was rooting for that was standing to the evil IBM. Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.
- SideburnsOfDoom 11y ago
  yes, the roles of the actors cycles around, but the script is the same.
SXX 11y ago
Once Microsoft stop charge users of Linux-based products for their patents or at least stop doing that shady way under NDA I'll believe it's not the same company. So far they get better in communication with open source community, but their business practices are all the same and Windows 10 only prove it.
- ed_blackburn 11y ago
  I'm curious how many people actually factor this into any due diligence for selecting technology for a project? How much weight do you give it? If I were to advise against using Azure, Windows, .NET because of patents charges for some Linux products I'm not sure my colleagues or clients would take me seriously. Yes, there are lots of reasons why you may not select MS tech, but patents seems a personal, political reason , which would be difficult to justify if you're trying to project it onto other people / organisations.
  - fulafel 11y ago
    An approximately shared set of values and/or (business-relevant) political aims is a great advantage in working together.
- unscaled 11y ago
  This is definitely bad behavior from Microsoft that amounts to patent trolling, but that's still way better than the old Microsoft was. They weren't the only ones though, as any of the fancy patent lawsuit maps of the smartphone patent wars would show you. Apple was notorious for suing Samsung of using the patented shape of a rectangle and while this was a misrepresentation of the way design patents work, most the patents they've used in their lawsuits were frivolous as well.
dragonwriter 11y ago
I'm pretty sure you have the things on the wrong sides of the "much less" in your first sentence (unless you intend to say that Microsoft is more like the company it was 25 years ago than the one it was 3 years ago.)
khattam 11y ago
>and Azure requires GNU/Linux No it doesn't.
- partiallypro 11y ago
  It doesn't require you to use it. Microsoft requires it to make their Azure platform viable. Microsoft couldn't just have a Windows based cloud platform, it requires Linux to succeed...which is exactly what I meant.

takeda 11y ago

Well... back in the day Microsoft also was the company everyone was rooting for that was standing to the evil IBM. Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.

SideburnsOfDoom 11y ago
yes, the roles of the actors cycles around, but the script is the same.

SXX 11y ago

Once Microsoft stop charge users of Linux-based products for their patents or at least stop doing that shady way under NDA I'll believe it's not the same company. So far they get better in communication with open source community, but their business practices are all the same and Windows 10 only prove it.

ed_blackburn 11y ago
I'm curious how many people actually factor this into any due diligence for selecting technology for a project? How much weight do you give it? If I were to advise against using Azure, Windows, .NET because of patents charges for some Linux products I'm not sure my colleagues or clients would take me seriously. Yes, there are lots of reasons why you may not select MS tech, but patents seems a personal, political reason , which would be difficult to justify if you're trying to project it onto other people / organisations.
- fulafel 11y ago
  An approximately shared set of values and/or (business-relevant) political aims is a great advantage in working together.
unscaled 11y ago
This is definitely bad behavior from Microsoft that amounts to patent trolling, but that's still way better than the old Microsoft was. They weren't the only ones though, as any of the fancy patent lawsuit maps of the smartphone patent wars would show you. Apple was notorious for suing Samsung of using the patented shape of a rectangle and while this was a misrepresentation of the way design patents work, most the patents they've used in their lawsuits were frivolous as well.

dragonwriter 11y ago

I'm pretty sure you have the things on the wrong sides of the "much less" in your first sentence (unless you intend to say that Microsoft is more like the company it was 25 years ago than the one it was 3 years ago.)

khattam 11y ago

>and Azure requires GNU/Linux No it doesn't.

partiallypro 11y ago
It doesn't require you to use it. Microsoft requires it to make their Azure platform viable. Microsoft couldn't just have a Windows based cloud platform, it requires Linux to succeed...which is exactly what I meant.