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04.04.06
Microsoft
Virtually Supporting Linux
 By
David A. Utter
The Windows maker announced at the LinuxWorld Conference &
Expo it would make the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 available
at no charge to customers.
In 1998, the open source world was abuzz with the revelation
of the Halloween
documents. Penned by a product manager at the behest of
management, these memos illustrated the competitive threat
Microsoft perceived from the open source community, and suggested
an "embrace, extend, and extinguish" approach to Linux.
Fast forward to 2006. Microsoft opened the Boston
2006 edition of LinuxWorld with announcements that, had
they been suggested to Jim Allchin eight years ago, may have
earned the offending Microsoftie a one-way trip to the parking
lot.
Microsoft has decided to make its Virtual Server product
available at no cost. The free download from the Virtual Server
website for version 2005 RC2 enables multiple operating systems
to run concurrently on a single machine.
Today, "multiple operating systems" includes Linux distributions
too. The additions to Virtual Server for Red Hat Linux and
Novell SuSE Linux have been made available to the public,
according to Zane Adam, director of product marketing in the
Windows Server Division at Microsoft.
He discussed the release in a Q&A statement from Microsoft,
where he cited "virtualization technology as a key stepping
stone toward the vision of self-managing dynamic systems."
Adam also announced the availability of technical support
options for customers who choose Virtual Server to host Linux
and Linux-based applications:
We will support Linux running as a guest in Microsoft Virtual
Server 2005 R2 from both a technology perspective and a 24-hour
technical support perspective. This will help customers safely
consolidate their Linux-based applications on Virtual Server.
With this expanded support, we're providing software that
they can install in the Linux guest operating systems to realize
significant improvements and usability enhancements with those
guests.
We've made a long-term commitment to make sure that non-Windows
operating systems can be run in a supported manner, both on
top of Virtual Server and our future virtualization products.
The technical support piece is an important part of that commitment.
Customers who have questions regarding the interoperability
with Linux guest operating systems and the virtual machine
add-ins will be able to access the standard Microsoft support
process.
To summarize this, Microsoft has essentially embraced the
open source business model of offering paid support options
for a free product, and extended it to Linux. Eight years
ago, that would have been unthinkable.
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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