3 ms·

"Maybe the Microsoft strategy is to intro into the Linux/Java/LAMPish/open-source camp community, burnish their image, and hope they consider their commercial o

"Maybe the Microsoft strategy is to intro into the Linux/Java/LAMPish/open-source camp community, burnish their image, and hope they consider their commercial offerings." Try plugging a USB stick with an ext2 partition into Windows 10. At least in 1803, you get TWO dialog boxes asking you to format the partition, with the default being format! In between is another dialog box with just one button. This is the new Microsoft, same as the old Microsoft.

sz4kerto 7y ago
Are you sure that this dialog box comprehensively represents the whole company?
- t-h-e-chief 7y ago
  I remember working at a Microsoft HQ building, when they had "Linux is cancer" posters hanging throughout the building. Never heard any Microsoft employees complain about them.
mpiedrav 7y ago
Windows will always be Windows, and other systems will be second-class citizens to it. The new Microsoft makes money well beyond Windows: billing running containers and Linux (or Windows) VMs, GB/month of Azure Storage, GB/month of outbound traffic, Visual Studio professional subscriptions, and so on. It's a clever strategy. Managers usually won't care/understand about containers, runtime environments, Active Directory, APIs, libraries, etc., but developers/devops folks do. By addressing devs, Microsoft is getting quite a competitive edge (no pun intended) in the operational part of enterprises. Microsoft salespeople already address managers in terms of solutions in manager-lingo (synergies, CapEx/OpEx, yada, yada).
kerng 7y ago
To be fair, this seems not like a mainstream use case... and you can use WSL to read it if you really want to (which seems like an advanced use case anyway). Cross platform FAT32 is the standard and Microsoft made that open.
- notimetorelax 7y ago
  I think a token amount of effort to try to detect ext file system and not to offer to wipe it clean might have improved the user experience. Small things like that accumulate and aggravate.
- joveian 7y ago
  There isn't anything "fair" about it; it is a blantant misuse of market share to make it harder to use a competing operating system. I do actually have a FAT32 partition as well that I use for transfer (the reason I'm plugging in the USB stick to begin with), I just also have an ext2 partition that Windows should ignore. I haven't used WSL yet, but if they already have code to read ext2 that makes it (slightly) worse, not better (unless you mean the WSL2 actually running a Linux kernel). Microsoft would prefer to have a monopoly on operating systems, but to the extent that isn't possible/allowed a duopoly with Apple isn't so bad due to Apple's "premium" focus and special hardware. It is clear that the first priority relating to Linux is to prevent new Linux users. While they would love to have a better reputation anyway, I doubt many people will be fooled for long.

sz4kerto 7y ago

Are you sure that this dialog box comprehensively represents the whole company?

t-h-e-chief 7y ago
I remember working at a Microsoft HQ building, when they had "Linux is cancer" posters hanging throughout the building. Never heard any Microsoft employees complain about them.

mpiedrav 7y ago

Windows will always be Windows, and other systems will be second-class citizens to it. The new Microsoft makes money well beyond Windows: billing running containers and Linux (or Windows) VMs, GB/month of Azure Storage, GB/month of outbound traffic, Visual Studio professional subscriptions, and so on. It's a clever strategy. Managers usually won't care/understand about containers, runtime environments, Active Directory, APIs, libraries, etc., but developers/devops folks do. By addressing devs, Microsoft is getting quite a competitive edge (no pun intended) in the operational part of enterprises. Microsoft salespeople already address managers in terms of solutions in manager-lingo (synergies, CapEx/OpEx, yada, yada).

kerng 7y ago

To be fair, this seems not like a mainstream use case... and you can use WSL to read it if you really want to (which seems like an advanced use case anyway). Cross platform FAT32 is the standard and Microsoft made that open.

notimetorelax 7y ago
I think a token amount of effort to try to detect ext file system and not to offer to wipe it clean might have improved the user experience. Small things like that accumulate and aggravate.
joveian 7y ago
There isn't anything "fair" about it; it is a blantant misuse of market share to make it harder to use a competing operating system. I do actually have a FAT32 partition as well that I use for transfer (the reason I'm plugging in the USB stick to begin with), I just also have an ext2 partition that Windows should ignore. I haven't used WSL yet, but if they already have code to read ext2 that makes it (slightly) worse, not better (unless you mean the WSL2 actually running a Linux kernel). Microsoft would prefer to have a monopoly on operating systems, but to the extent that isn't possible/allowed a duopoly with Apple isn't so bad due to Apple's "premium" focus and special hardware. It is clear that the first priority relating to Linux is to prevent new Linux users. While they would love to have a better reputation anyway, I doubt many people will be fooled for long.