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Linux recieves video gift from Microsoft for its 20th birthday
- njloof 15y agoHappy birthday, Linux! Sorry about that time we tried to sue you out of existence.
- tzs 15y agoWhen was that? edit: down voted for asking a reasonable question? WTF? I google for "Microsoft sues Linux" and nothing reasonable came up (it's pretty much mostly the Tom Tom stuff, which wasn't about Linux). Hence, I asked what the poster was thinking of.
- burgerbrain 15y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO-Linux_controversies#Microsoft_funding_of_SCO_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO-Linux_controversies#Microso...
- aditiyaa1 15y agoFor whatever the resaon might be, Microsoft also does this : http://www.itproportal.com/2011/07/18/microsoft-contribution-amongst-top-five-towards-linux-3-development/ http://www.itproportal.com/2011/07/18/microsoft-contribution...
- gareim 15y agoFrom the Wikipedia entry for "Linux kernel": "In July 2009 Microsoft submitted Hyper-V drivers to the kernel, which improve the performance of virtual Linux guest systems in a Windows hosted environment. Microsoft was forced to submit the code when it was discovered that Microsoft had incorporated a Hyper-V network driver with GPL-licensed components statically linked to closed-source binaries." So obviously Microsoft didn't do it for altruistic motives.
- city41 15y agoDoes any corporation do anything for altruistic motives?
- aditiyaa1 15y agoI believe the only thing that a corporation can do that can count for "altruism" would be to produce a product / service that doesn't suck and practice fairplay rules with its competitors.Nothing more is expected of a corporation in an ideal society.
- Produce 15y agoThe corporation sounds like a sociopathic entity by it's very design. No wonder Mussolini said that corporatism was the first step towards fascism, which, rather alarmingly, implies that the world has already taken it's first steps towards it.
- aditiyaa1 15y agoI don't think all corporations can be termed as sociopathic institutions . There are ofcourse certain aspects of its design , that makes it behave this way. Majority of the countries are dependent on growth based economies. So it becomes mandatory for an corporation to show a higher rate of growth and hence all kinds of malpratices arise. I am not sure whether measuring an institutions performance from one quarter to the next quarter is a good practice of measure. Correct me if I am wrong.
- aditiyaa1 15y agoI ruled out altuim , I was just searching for what the "ulterior objective" might be. Thanks for the info....
- burgerbrain 15y agoContributing to Linux to allow it to run better with MSFT products hardly absolves them from funding SCO.
- mburns 15y ago> “The vast bulk of Microsoft’s contributions has been to its own Hyper-V virtualization hypervisor drivers. Hyper-V is Microsoft’s 64-bit hypervisor-based virtualization system,” "whatever the reason might be" as if it wasn't clearly stated in the article.
- code_duck 15y agothe time? Pretty sure they'd still be quite happy to do that.
- rbanffy 15y agoI'm quite sure they are still trying.
- shareme 15y agoNow they just patent troll Android OEMs for having infringements in the linux kernel
- chippy 15y agoWe're a PC
- clark-kent 15y agoActions speak louder than words.
- dorian-graph 15y agoThat's cute. It's not always true, or rather, sometimes the strongest action is a public comment, statement or apology.
- rbanffy 15y agoI'd be happy if they returned the money they patent-extorted Tom Tom, Samsung and HTC ;-)
- cpeterso 15y agoMicrosoft's IE team sent Mozilla congratulatory "birthday" cakes when Firefox 3 and 5 were released.
- aaronbrethorst 15y agoActually, cakes were sent for 3 and 4, and a cupcake for 5: http://www.geekwire.com/2011/cupcake-firefox-5-microsoft-fun-mozillas-rapid-release http://www.geekwire.com/2011/cupcake-firefox-5-microsoft-fun...
- ruethewhirled 15y agoKinda lame how Microsoft does this, perhaps it's some underhanded ploy to assert there relevance?
- mohsen 15y agoin case anyone was wondering what the date is and how it was picked: http://www.gatorlug.org/node/208 http://www.gatorlug.org/node/208
- jff 15y agoSo would that make this the first step of "embrace, extend, extinguish"?
- code_duck 15y agoI wonder as well... are they trying to hint at something?
- ibejoeb 15y agoThe video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA2kqAIOoZM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA2kqAIOoZM
- vacri 15y ago... a piece offering in the form of a flash video?
- astine 15y agoBetter than Silverlight.
- rbanffy 15y agoNobody running Linux would be able to see it.
- pueblo 15y agoThose running moonlight perhaps? (Yeah, all three of them)
- jamesgeck0 15y agoMoonlight? Or is it's video implementation not up to snuff yet?
- rbanffy 15y agoI think there was a codec problem.
- vacri 15y agoTo the folks downmodding: flash runs notoriously poorly on linux - it's far from universally accessible. Whether selected by MS or linux.com, it's strange that a more linux-friendly format wasn't chosen. Or were you downmodding the typo? HN modding is weird...
- Ringo48 15y agoIt doesn't actually. I've been using Flash on both 64-bit and 32-bit variants of Debian for years now, with little problem. My only real complaint with Flash on Linux has been the inconsistent updates for the 64-bit plugin. People who say "Flash works poorly on Linux" are either trolling, too newb to configure their browsers, or free software zealots who won't be satisfied until Adobe open sources everything they've ever made.
- gecos 15y agoThere's Novell inside the igloo wheedling Tux into taking the gift. Yet, the cake is a lie. It really is.
- CodeMage 15y agoLet's hope it isn't. Otherwise Tux might just invent combustible lemon to burn Microsoft's house down.
- alf 15y ago"Microsoft or Linux" -> "Microsoft and Linux" Speaks to how far Linux has come. This might be just be my isolated geeky viewpoint, but does anyone else see a world without Microsoft more likely than a world without Linux?
- jleader 15y agoFrom my point of view, that's a bizarre depiction of history. Tux started the discord, by throwing a rock at Windows? What's that supposed to represent? I understand about the Halloween memo, though it wasn't Linux that Microsoft was trying to frighten. And what's with Tux jacking up a penguin to try to make it as tall as Bill? What's that supposed to represent? Microsoft is always shown as the innocent bystander. Weird.
- rbanffy 15y agoThe worst part? There are people who fall for this.
- mph 15y agoThe worst part is that there are people reading far too much into this. It feels exactly like it was done in the same humour as the IE team sending Mozilla a birthday cake.
- rbanffy 15y agoI agree. It's just a video where a company pushes a distorted vision of the past relationship between said company and the community it's bent on destroying because it's perceived as a threat to its business.
- smackfu 15y agoFall for a distorted retelling of a video they don't have time to watch? Yep.
- jleader 15y agoI didn't intend my comment to be a complete retelling; I was just pointing out some odd things that stood out to me, and asking if anyone else here knew what they might represent.
- jomogalla 15y agoI interpret when Tux threw the rock as Tux trying to get Windows' attention.
- oasisbob 15y agoI think this is a great gesture. One, it's from Microsoft Germany, which in my mind makes it seem more genuine. (High open source adoption, and I would be surprised if it was blessed by Redmond.) Two, it acknowledges the Halloween memos. This could have easily been left out. Three, it's a cake. This new(?) cake tradition seems to say, "regardless of politics and history, cheers to you and your team on your achievements". Finally, I don't think anyone can deny that Linux supporters have historically been brash and rude in the past when talking about Micro$ux Winblows. The rock at the window doesn't seem so out of place.
- rbanffy 15y agoI don't know about Germans, but I tend to be rude whit people who repeatedly try to destroy everything I work for and believe in. They make the Halloween docs look like a prank gone wrong instead of the vicious attempt to sabotage the free and open-source marketplace. I'm not sure if that counts as acknowledgment. For what I know of Microsoft internals, the people responsible may even believe it.
- zizee 15y agohttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Documents http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Documents
- valisystem 15y agoThis gesture is just a PR operation with full benefit to microsoft. Microsoft has been bullying Linux and Open Source communities with big communication and legal budgets. Some of the target where big corporations, but most of the damage hurt physical people that attempted to earn their live under ethics and morales that seemed to bring a better world for everyone. Imagine if a big nuclear corporation came to greenpeace and tell them "cheers to you" "regardless of politics and history". It just looks the same way to me. The worst part is to depict Linux and Open Source people has equal bullier that microsoft. I can't see anything else but an attempt to bring the enemy as low as they are in the public mind.
- thyrsus 15y agoIf Microsoft wants to send a video gift to Linux, how about dedicating all their video codec patents to the public domain? Or making Ogg the default media format?
- loup-vaillant 15y agoOne step at a time. If Microsoft goes Free Software all of a sudden it will hurt its short term revenues. Making ogg the default format sounds reasonable. Giving their video codec patents is not: they couldn't use them for defence. A global, written promise for not suing anyone for patent infringement unless they sue Microsoft for patent infringement sound much more feasible.
- bromagosa 15y agoDidn't Microsoft understand anything at all?
- zemanel 15y agoit's a trick, get an axe
- Rickasaurus 15y agoIt's important to know that it's not Microsoft as a whole that hates Linux, the company is really split into three ideological factions: (1) The Gates Worshipers, (2) The Open Source Geeks and (3) The iWorlders Those in (1) are the old guard, and opinions are hard to change. They tend to be near the top and want to return to the Bill Gates way of the iron fist. Those in (2) are most of the programmers/devtools folks at Microsoft. They grew up and went to school (and maybe even came from academia) using Open Source and still love it. They are why you see things like F# being open sourced. Then there are those in (3) which tend to be more on the XBox/Windows Phone side. Just like Apple, they don't really care about Linux. What they want is to offer another walled garden so they can take your money with little effort.