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Microsoft has built a Linux distro


deadlyhabit

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Sitting down? Nothing in your mouth?

Microsoft has developed its own Linux distribution. And Azure runs it to do networking.

Redmond's revealed that it's built something called Azure Cloud Switch (ACS), describing it as “a cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux” and “our foray into building our own software for running network devices like switches.”

Kamala Subramanian, Redmond's principal architect for Azure Networking, writes that: “At Microsoft, we believe there are many excellent switch hardware platforms available on the market, with healthy competition between many vendors driving innovation, speed increases, and cost reductions.”

(Translation: Microsoft partners, we mean you no harm.)

“However, what the cloud and enterprise networks find challenging is integrating the radically different software running on each different type of switch into a cloud-wide network management platform. Ideally, we would like all the benefits of the features we have implemented and the bugs we have fixed to stay with us, even as we ride the tide of newer switch hardware innovation.”

(Translation: Software-defined networking (SDN) is a very fine idea.)

But it appears Redmond couldn't find SDN code to fits its particular needs, as it says ACS “... focuses on feature development based on Microsoft priorities” and “allows us to debug, fix, and test software bugs much faster. It also allows us the flexibility to scale down the software and develop features that are required for our datacenter and our networking needs.”

ACS is designed to use the Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI), an OpenCompute effort that offers an API to program ASICs inside network devices.

Microsoft's post revealing ACS says a fair bit about its features, but doesn't explain the relationship between Microsoft and Linux. Perhaps the complexity of the world's switching ecosystem was the reason: Redmond says it has demonstrated ACS across with “four ASIC vendors (Mellanox, Broadcom, Cavium, and the Barefoot software switch), six implementations of SAI (Broadcom, Dell, Mellanox, Cavium, Barefoot, and Metaswitch), and three applications stacks (Microsoft, Dell, and Metaswitch).”

Subramaniam's post ends by letting us know: “We’re talking about ACS publicly as we believe this approach of disaggregating the switch software from the switch hardware will continue to be a growing trend in the networking industry and we would like to contribute our insights and experiences of this journey starting here.”

That experience clearly includes Linux, not Windows, as the path to SDN.

Satya Nadella's Microsoft is a very different animal, unafraid to use any technology if it gets the job done. But Microsoft building a Linux? Wow. Just wow. ®

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/09/18/1224234/microsoft-has-built-a-linux-distro

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Windows is still(and for a long time to come will be) the dominant OS in the face of the world, both for home desktop users, but also the corporate environment, servers, etc. While linux is going mainstream for some, with the advent of chromebooks, and ubuntu desktops, and MAC devices pushing the apple side of things, windows is still on top of all of these. Even as I see windows 10 being the every other year flop as some call it, windows 10 will still be widely adopted at some point. I hated vista and waited till 7, but that didn't stop a shit ton of installs of it being out there(still). 95 was great back in the day and I loved win98, while millenium and such sucked, XP with all it's flaws is still alive and well out there, Vista same although flawed, 7 was the nice meld of XP and Vista that I still love and think was their best yet, while I don't love 8(have it on a newer touchscreen laptop for work), it's now everywhere you look. With ARM being more widely accepted for smaller devices, Microsoft was smart to start making that move to support the hardware with 8 devices, and 10 will only make that much stronger down the road. Even though out of the box, everything 10 does is like pure NSA happy ending/spyware, I can see people getting their free download copies and putting it on all kinds of lower end laptops that would run like a beast compared to their vista, 7 and 8 variants and arm devices that can now wipe that chromebook and make a win10 port. When people start adopting it, I think we're going to see more support for porting it onto things it wouldn't normally be on, even if microsoft's intention wasn't to put it on certain devices, I'm sure someone is going to find ways to put it on all kinds of tablets and smaller laptops running arm, although the graphics side is going to lack for support of display driver requirements.

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You're right on that, Microsoft isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And to tell the truth Microsoft has been contributing to the Linux code base for quite some time. So it doesn't surprise me they are putting out their own Linux. They used to have a Unix clone called Zenix back in the day. I used to use that at work.

I think Windows NT 4.0 was probably about my favorite Windows. It didn't crash a lot. You could get work done. The little thing didn't come on and just roll and roll like it was waiting for the insects to take over the earth while it was installing updates.

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Just some stats on Operating systems as well - windows still covers the mass of the OS landscape.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp

I like the general trend that Mac and Linux are encroaching on the Windows position, but given that over the past 10 years the combined presence of the two went from 6.6 to 16.3 and it was in fact the Mac that increased the most during that time, it's hard to understand why people think Linux is taking over the world.

Bottom line is that while you might feel right at home using something that isn't Windows, many people very much don't. When they choose Windows for their next machine, they're not wrong, misguided or stupid. They simply chose what works for them.

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NO ONE TRUSTS YOU MICROSOFT!!!!

I'm not sure if it's that Bill is a Eugenicist (and owns a controlling share of Monsanto) or that the company has a horrible privacy record. Maybe it's both!

Anyone remember Enron, AIG, or the Lehman Brothers? It's very common for any size business to fail after radical changes to how they make their income. After 30 years of charging large amounts of money for their OS Windows 10 being somewhat free is right in there with radical changes. To me this "Winux" distro shows they're in distress.

Periphrases Linux "The operating system of tomorrow" may be the operating system of today sooner than we all think. Last time I checked there are officially more mobile devices than regular PC's - and last time I checked they all ran a flavor of Linux.

So I take that back, Linux is the OS of today.

The only two things I see keeping them in the game for longer is AD, and Office. Recently I heard that France and Switzerland (or Sweden, please correct me if I'm wrong) have passed laws to only use and accept ODF formatted word documents. MS is on the way out sooner than we all think. Even Xbox has been losing them money since the start. I see them trying to be like google and try to be an information company like those jack asses who record and sell your perchance information from costumer loyalty cards. Gaming is the only thing saving them right now.

Time will tell.

I'd say a bigger concern is why the hell IBM is still using computers in medicine. Didn't they learn that was a bad idea when they partnered with the Nazis? I guess not.

Edited by Paper Tiger
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Bill isn't in charge of M$ anymore though (or if he is it's not in a public capacity in the corporate hierarchy). Still involved in the company and always will be the first person people think of when it comes to them, but not the one doing a lot of changes or heading the direction of the company publicly.

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Just another thing Microsoft will get wrong, putting their own spin on it, and tell everyone that this is what you want, because we are microsoft and we have to dominate you all.

SORRY....not a fan after Windows 8 stuff up.

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Well, this is actually kinda clever.

Microsoft has (well, had at least) a policy of eating their own dog food. By moving to Linux this department is giving the finger to the OS department, who's going to be pissed and work hard to solve the issues they have. In the mean time, each time Azure kicks the bucket, it's because of Linux.

Where's Microsoft's downside?

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Well, this is actually kinda clever.

Microsoft has (well, had at least) a policy of eating their own dog food. By moving to Linux this department is giving the finger to the OS department, who's going to be pissed and work hard to solve the issues they have. In the mean time, each time Azure kicks the bucket, it's because of Linux.

Where's Microsoft's downside?

Corporation/money wise none.

User wise they were smart to do the free Windows 10 update for users.

However users finding the tracking bits and personal info being shared by 10 is kind of a backlash on them, but not that many mainstream sites are covering it.

I can't wait to setup a Win10 box in my lab to test for vulnerabilities and with most people not removing the tracking stuff in 10 it's going to be a goldmine of data for anyone who hacks and gains access.

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Would've expected more from Office 360 working properly in non-IE browsers. It would be FAR easier and cheaper than trying to support *nix and having people trust it.

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