Ubuntu-gr Forum

έγραψε:We put this question to Linus, asking whether this patch was something he would be happy to include, even though it’s from Microsoft. He replied:

“Oh, I’m a big believer in “technology over politics”. I don’t care who it comes from, as long as there are solid reasons for the code, and as long as we don’t have to worry about licensing etc issues.

In fact, to some degree, I’d be more likely to include it because it’s from a new member of the community rather than less (again, I’d like to point out that drivers are special. They don’t impact other things, so they get merged much more easily than some core changes).

I may make jokes about Microsoft at times, but at the same time, I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease. I believe in open development, and that very much involves not just making the source open, but also not shutting other
people and companies out.

There are ‘extremists’ in the free software world, but that’s one major reason why I don’t call what I do ‘free software’ any more. I don’t want to be associated with the people for whom it’s about exclusion and hatred.”

έγραψε:Linus states that this is how all open source code gets written, developers scratching an itch. The fact that this comes from Microsoft shouldn’t make any difference at all, saying:

“I agree that it’s driven by selfish reasons, but that’s how all open source code gets written! We all “scratch our own itches”. It’s why I started Linux, it’s why I started git, and it’s why I am still involved. It’s the reason for everybody to end up in open source, to some degree.

So complaining about the fact that Microsoft picked a selfish area to work on is just silly. Of course they picked an area that helps them. That’s the point of open source - the ability to make the code better for your particular needs, whoever the ‘your’ in question happens to be.

Does anybody complain when hardware companies write drivers for the hardware they produce? No. That would be crazy. Does anybody complain when IBM funds all the POWER development, and works on enterprise features because they sell into the enterprise? No. That would be insane.

So the people who complain about Microsoft writing drivers for their own virtualization model should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves why they are being so hypocritical.”

έγραψε:Of course Microsoft’s code is designed to squarely benefit themselves, but so is all the other code contributed by corporations and often individuals. Think of Intel for example and the Moblin project. It is designed to keep Intel products on the forefront of technology and in part a preemptive attack on the ARM architecture which is bursting onto the netbook scene with a strong Linux history.

At the end of the day, even if these drivers do make it into the kernel, it will actually be up to distributions to include them. This means that even though Microsoft’s strategic move might appear to pay off now, it won’t necessarily work as they hope if companies like Red Hat, Novell and Ubuntu don’t include the drivers! It’s early days yet, so a lot of this remains to be seen.

Microsoft knows free software is not going anywhere and it needs this code in the kernel to stay in the game. They must ensure that Linux will run on their products, else they run the risk of losing the lot. What Microsoft has yet to realize, is that they are fighting a losing battle. This is a prime example of that fact and should be a wake up call to the giant. So yes, let’s not forget who Microsoft is, but at the same time if they are contributing useful code then there’s no harm in adopting it and improving it.