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Originally Posted by binaryhermit
And getting back to the topic currently at hand, as a longtime linux user knowing about the SCO vs (everyone using Linux) lawsuits debacle, I'm somewhat skeptical of Microsoft.
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You might want to check out the new look 'Please run Linux on Azure' Microsoft:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/micro...141047213.html
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“Ten to 15 years ago we were very focused on the competition between Linux and Windows,” says Microsoft’s chief IP counsel, Erich Andersen, in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “But today Microsoft is a very different company. With the rise of our Azure [cloud services] business, Microsoft has become one of the largest contributors to open source in the world. . . . We’re in a position where, as [CEO] Satya [Nadella] says, we love Linux. We love open source. That’s a big part of the future of our business.”
“Through its participation in OIN, Microsoft is explicitly acknowledging the importance of open source software to its future growth,” comments OIN’s Bergelt in a press release. “Microsoft’s participation in OIN adds to our strong community, which through its breadth and depth has reduced patent risk in core technologies. [It] unequivocally signals for all companies who are using open-source software but have yet to join OIN that the litmus test for authentic behavior in the open-source community includes OIN participation.”
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Against the backdrop of this radically changing landscape, we have seen Microsoft take a series of steps foreshadowing today’s news, all since Nadella took over the reins in February 2014.
In November 2015, for instance, the company reached a “patent standstill agreement” with Red Hat, a major distributor of commercial-grade Linux (and charter OIN member). With no exchange of money, each agreed not to bring patent suits against each other’s customers. This provided comfort to Red Hat customers who wanted to run Red Hat Linux programs on Azure.
About a year later Microsoft began reassuring all Azure customers, through a program called Azure IP Advantage, that it would indemnify them against any patent claims that might be leveled against them for using open-source software on Azure’s cloud. That made it unthinkable that Microsoft would itself level such claims.
Shortly thereafter the company joined the board of the Linux Foundation as a platinum-level member, meaning that it contributed about $500,000. The foundation is a consortium that provides tools, training and events to foster open-source projects.
This past April the company launched its first Linux-based product—Azure Sphere for Internet of Things applications.
Then, in June, it announced that it would pony up $7.5 billion—about what it paid for Nokia five years ago—to acquire GitHub, the leading open-source software development platform. The purchase underlined the extent to which the company was no longer just a proprietary software maker but, rather, in very large part, a services company.
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