3 ms·
Just to add some context, Windows remains a significant part of MS's revenue stream, but in recent years has been overtaken by cloud services (Azure). From thei
by wenc 6y ago
Just to add some context, Windows remains a significant part of MS's revenue stream, but in recent years has been overtaken by cloud services (Azure). From their most recent SEC-10K (July 2020, pg 92, Part II Item 8) [1]: (revenue, in billion $)
* Server products and cloud services: 41 (in 2020), 26 (in 2018)
* Office products and cloud services: 35 (in 2020), 28 (in 2018)
* Windows: 22 (in 2020), 19 (in 2018)
* Gaming: 12 (in 2020), 10 (in 2018)
Windows continues to be important (probably a defensive revenue stream), but strategically I wonder what the advantage is of switching to a Linux kernel. So many things would break (the 3rd party driver ecosystem for one would have to turn over several times to catch up), plus MS would lose full control over the direction of kernel development. It also doesn't really help or hinder their Azure strategy -- a large percentage of VMs on Azure are Linux VMs. But I'll stop pontificating without real knowledge and just leave it at that.
[1] https://microsoft.gcs-web.com/static-files/4e7064ed-bbf7-4140-a8cb-79aba77421b9 https://microsoft.gcs-web.com/static-files/4e7064ed-bbf7-414...
- foota 6y agoCost savings? They probably still have lots of kernel developers.