Microsoft Making Peace With Linux? Not So Fast

Microsoft's unexpected move Monday to donate thousands of lines of code for inclusion in the Linux operating system kernel is being interpreted by some as recognition by Microsoft that it's a hybrid IT world out there, and its software must co-exist with Linux and other open-source products.

Make no mistake, Microsoft hasn't abandoned its ambitions to be the dominant player in the data center, just as it already is on the desktop. And if that means engaging in some "co-opetition" with Linux in the short-term, so be it. But anyone who sat through the keynote speech by Microsoft COO Kevin Turner at the Worldwide Partner Conference last week knows Microsoft has a long list of technologies -- including Linux -- it has in its competitive sights.

Monday, in a move even Microsoft acknowledged as "a break from the ordinary," the software giant said in a statement that it had submitted three Linux device drivers -- some 20,000 lines of code -- to the Linux kernel community for inclusion in the operating system under the GPLv2 license.

It's the first time Microsoft has released code directly to the Linux community and an unprecedented move by a company with a hostile history toward Linux and other open-source software. That's led some to interpret the move as further evidence that Microsoft is mellowing its stance toward open-source software, along with other signs such as its 2006 pact with SUSE Linux vendor Novell and its more recent announcement that its under-development Office Web applications will support Firefox.

Certainly the Linux code donation will pay benefits to Microsoft by making Windows and Microsoft's Hyper-V a better host for Linux software. "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," said Sam Ramji, Microsoft senior director of platform strategy, recently told Channelweb.com.

But has Microsoft really changed its attitude toward Linux and open-source software? Just last February, after all, Microsoft sued GPS device maker Tom Tom, which uses Linux in its products, claiming Linux violates Microsoft patents (The case was settled in March). Bloggers have been having a field day portraying Monday's donation as an effort to gain control over the open-source community by getting its own technology into the ecosystem and so reduce the need for non-Microsoft technology.

Whether Microsoft is that Machiavellian is questionable. But during his take-no-prisoners speech last week, Turner urged channel partners to aggressively target competing products, such as IBM Lotus Notes and VMware's virtualization software, for "product displacement" -- Turner-speak for killing off the competition.

And according to a slide Turner showed, the COO's hit list includes a number of open-source products, including Linux, Firefox, the MySQL database (a close competitor to Microsoft's SQL Server), and Open Office, the free alternative to Microsoft Office, one of the company's cash cows.

Turner derided Linux in his speech, referring to the "fraudulent perception of free" software, and boasting that Linux hasn't eroded Windows Server's market share. "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," he said.

Microsoft will play nice with Linux for the time being if it helps Windows Server gain ground as a computing platform in the data center. But the company's ambitious goals haven't changed, and its long-term vision leaves little room for Linux and other open-source technologies.