Tag: Microsoft

Bill Gates and Open Source

I think it goes without saying that I am a huge supporter of Open Source but believe it or not I am also a big fan of Bill Gates. You've got to respect what he did for the industry and what he does for the world through his charities. The guy is a geek's version of Michael Jordon. I don't agree with everything the man does obviously but I think the guy has a great mind and he will be missed in the computer industry when he finally moves on.

Anyways, I enjoy watching Bill Gates talk but I kind of caught something interesting in this last interview I was watching.

Here is a link to the interview:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7462156.stm

At about 1.45 Bill talks about how finding the source code for an operating system took him and Paul Allen to the next level on tinkering. I thought to myself how fortunate we were that he had that oppurtunity to look at and study an operating systems source code. It would have been a real shame if the ability to look at source code was deprived from Bill Gates. I wonder how many great thinkers Linux has or will inspire by offering them a similar opportunity.

Microsoft apologizes to Open Source Initiative for policy violation

Interesting article over on ZDNet. I don't know what surprised me more, "Microsoft apologizes to Open Source Initiative for policy violation" or to hear Microsoft actually has a "open-source and Linux team".

Microsoft apologizes to Open Source Initiative for policy violation

Novell gets $348 million from Microsoft

This is a little old but I thought iI would go ahead and throw something on my site. .

Novell has published additional details about its agreements with Microsoft concerning Windows and Linux interoperability and patents. It seems the company is receiving an up-front payment of $348 million from Microsoft, for SLES subscription "certificates" and for patent cross-licensing. Spread the word: digg this story In Novell's Form 8-K submission to the SEC (Security and Exchanges Commission), Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, the company states that "Under the Business Collaboration Agreement, which expires January 1, 2012, Novell and Microsoft will market a combined offering. The combined offering will consist of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and a subscription for SLES support along with Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Viridian that will be offered to customers desiring to deploy Linux and Windows in a virtualized setting."

What exactly does this mean? Hard to say at this point. Is this strange? Not as strange as one might initially think. If you recall, Microsoft did something very similar with Apple a few years back.

The Full Story Here

Microsoft and Zend

More for my geek friends. This is old news but if you haven't heard.

Microsoft and Zend Technologies Announce Technical Collaboration to Improve Interoperability of PHP on the Windows Server Platform / 10 / 2006 / Announcements / Zend News / Company / Zend.com

REDMOND, Wash., and CUPERTINO, Calif. — Oct. 31, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. and Zend Technologies Inc. today announced a technical collaboration to enhance the experience of running the PHP scripting language on Windows Server® 2003. The parties expect to extend the collaboration to the next version of Windows Server, code-named “Longhorn.” The resulting technology enhancements and ongoing interaction with the PHP community is expected to enable customers to take advantage of the Windows Server platform. The cooperative effort seeks to provide customers with richer functionality and better integration, resulting in improved performance and increased reliability.

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