By Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb, CRN Network, July 23, 2009, 1100 hrs
Microsoft recently submitted three Linux device drivers to the Linux community in an effort to optimize the performance of Linux virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
Microsoft is contributing some 20,000 lines of Linux code under the GPLv2 license, an unprecedented move for a company that has spent more than a decade hammering away at the reputation of Linux and free software in general. "This is a significant milestone because it's the first time we've released code directly to the Linux community," said Tom Hanrahan, Director, Open Source Technology Center (OSTC), Microsoft, in a Q&A on Microsoft's PressPass Web site.
Over the past three years of engaging with the open source community through the OSTC, Microsoft has come to realize that there's a lot of demand for running Linux virtual machines on Hyper-V, according to Sam Ramji, Senior Director, Platform Strategy, Microsoft.
"We are hearing more and more customers and open source partners telling us they see some of their best value when they deploy new open source software solutions on top of existing Microsoft platforms," Ramji said.
Ensuring that Linux runs well on Hyper-V is a win-win for Microsoft because it makes Windows Server more appealing for more customers while also furthering Microsoft's recent efforts to bury the hatchet with the open source community. However, the message coming from Microsoft's open source team is noticeably different than the one coming from its executive leadership.
At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference last week, COO Kevin Turner pointed out that the economic downturn led many industry watchers to predict a boom in Linux adoption. Nevertheless, Windows Server market share is now at its highest level in three years, he said. "We've competed with the fraudulent perception of free really, really well," Turner said in his WPC keynote.
Turner went on to add that Microsoft's efforts to combat this perception have paid off. "It feels so good for customers to finally understand the truth about open source and Linux, and we're making incredible progress in this space, and we're going to continue to drive that," Turner said.
Still, despite the mixed messages, solution providers that work with Linux see Microsoft's move as a pleasantly surprising one. "It's great to see Microsoft opening up the vault a little bit and making sure there is continuity with other platforms and their virtualization software," said Frank Basanta, Director, Technology, Systems Solutions, a New York-based integrator.
Microsoft needs to make the case that Hyper-V is a viable high-performance host for Linux machines in order to achieve its goals of becoming the de facto OS infrastructure player in the data center, said Bernard Golden, CEO, Hyperstratus, a California-based solution provider. "Microsoft wants to own the data center, and they want to be the key software piece you put in to run your entire infrastructure. One way to move toward that is to have high-performance integration between Linux and Hyper-V," he said.
John Locke, Principal Consultant, Freelock Computing, a Seattle-based open-source consultancy, describes the move as a "great sign" that would have been inconceivable just a couple of years ago.
"Microsoft is acting in its own best interest, but the fact that it's releasing drivers to the Linux kernel with a code contribution under the GPL is a clear sea change in the marketplace," Locke said. "What's remarkable is that Microsoft is acknowledging this change instead of fighting it the way they've done for so long."
