I’ve been screaming about it for years. Microsoft is going to try to destroy Linux. When the SCO lawsuit failed they needed to go somewhere else and their recent “partnership” with Novell was just foreshadowing.

Microsoft’s latest claims are that Linux violates 235 of Microsoft’s patents. Excuse me while I laugh for a while….

Let’s review history. Microsoft “stole” Apples technology, which Apple “stole” from Xerox, and now Microsoft is mad that someone “stole” from them. For years Microsoft has been using their monopoly to steal technology, destroy companies, and force the industry to move in a direction that directly profits them.

Linus Torvalds has recenlty responded to Microsoft’s claims with a very witty response stating:

“they’re (Microsoft) probably happier with the FUD than with any lawsuit”

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Monopoly, Microsoft, Linux, Linus Torvalds

This session is targeted directly at discussing competition in the virtualization market place. They started out with an overview of the VMware advantage:

The first item discussed was that fact that VMware has been in the market since 2001 and are in their 3rd generation of releases. Microsoft’s Virtual Server is still trying to get Viridian out to beta, and Xen lacks a large customer base and is not included in the Linux Kernel by default.

The second item discussed is that VMware provides more guest OS’s. VMWare supports over 70 Operating Systems, while Microsoft supports 13 (no 64bit), XenSource and Virtual Iron only support 5 (2 versions of Windows, and 3 of Linux).

The third item discussed was overall TCO. Virtual Iron and XenSource try to compete saying that there per socket cost is less than VMware. However, because VMware is more scalable you can get a greater TCO.

Next, they dove into each competitor.

Microsoft and Xen use generic device drivers to manage the physical hardware and provide resources to the Guest VM’s. The advantage is that you have more hardware available to use. However, the trade off is that the generic drivers are not designed for the workload associated with virtualization. Part of the reason Microsoft’s Virdian is being pushed back is because Microsoft is trying to get better performance and scalability. VMware tried the same thing a few years back and found that writing new optimized driver provided better performance.

Some of the issues associated with OS-centric virtualization are:

Virtualization becomes a component of a monolithic operating system making it more vunerable to bugs and cunerabilities.

When you use a specific OS as a virtualization platform it favors that OS, locking you into that vendor, and provides poor support for other operating systems.

Next, they went into some myths that Microsoft is trying to perpetuate:

Myth: Microsoft Virtual Server gets better licensing for OS/Apps. - This is not true. Microsoft licensing applies to all virtualization platforms.

Myth: MS does not support VMware Platforms. - Not true. Microsoft will provide “commercially reasonable efforts” for VMware platforms. Also, Dell, HP, & IBM will provide support.

Myth: MS host clustering better than VMotion. - Not true. It’s hard to set up and has to be done for every VM.

Myth: MS to provide support for Linux VM’s. True, but not entirely. MS has outsourced the Linux compatibility layer to XenSource.

Then they demonstrationed MS Virtual Server host clustering.

The Microsoft Demonstration involved setting up a MS host cluster to provide VMotion-like functionality. I can’t imagine doing this for every VM in my environment. Also, when they “migrated” the VM from one host to another 7 pings were lost and a file copy that was going on timed out.

Then they presented some myths that Xen is trying to perpetuate:

Myth: VMware runs VM’s on a thick emulation layer. - Not true. VI3 is a true bare metal hypervisor with a similar code size to Xen.

Myth: Xen performance is better than VMWare. - Not true. VMware is faster with Windows Guests, binary translation is faster than hardware assist, and overall performance was similar. Even Xen’s papers support this.

Myth: Xen is ready for the enterprise. - Xen lacks reference customers, lacks a clustered filesystem, and there are reliability issues in their release notes.

They finished with a Xen Enterprise Management Interface demo. The interface was nice, but lacked advanced features.

Technorati Tags: VMware, TSX, VMware TSX

This is another fake RedHat ad…

Technorati Tags: RedHat

Microsoft recently pushed back the BETA release of Viridian from early 2007, to late 2007. For those of you that don’t know, Viridian is the code name for Microsoft’s upcoming hypervisor.

Does this delay surprise me? No. VMware has had 9 years to develop their virtualization technologies. Microsoft can’t expect to steal, oops, I mean develop, comparable technology in 6 months.  Even when the technology is released, they are going to need time to mature it, and beleive me, it will need to mature.

Technorati Tags: Viridian, Microsoft, hypervisor, VMware

On November 6 2006 Microsoft and Novell signed their “agreement”. This ad was release prior to that.

Funny what $348 million can do…

Technorati Tags: Novell, Microsoft

I was checking my site statistics and noticed that the Microsoft Virtualization Calculator has been downloaded 110 times so far this month!  This is pretty cool.  I’m glad people are finding it useful.

You can find it here.

Also - if you download it and like it, leave a comment.

Thanks!

Here’s a couple of follow up items to yesterday’s post:

Graklaw’s thoughts on the Microsoft/Novell deal titled “Novell Sells Out“. Personally, I’d think Novell would have learned from the last time Microsoft burned them. Remember back in the day when the default network operating system was Netware? I guess if you can’t beat ‘em, sell out to ‘em. Sadly, SuSE USED to be my favorite flavor of Linux. Now, I wouldn’t install it if you paid me.

If you’re interested, here’s the FUD released by Microsoft and Novell regarding their deal.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Novell Deal, SuSE Linux, Netware

I’m posting a great article I just read on technorat.net posted on 11/2/2006. It’s in regards to the deal that Novell and Microsoft struck up last year. Apparently this deal is an attempt to give Microsoft control over commercial users of Open Source software.

Today Novell and Microsoft announced a partnership in which Microsoft has made some unlikely-seeming promises regarding Linux. What aren’t they telling you? First, you can be sure that Microsoft’s not out to help a competitor. This announcement paves the way for Microsoft to implement significant control over commercial customer’s use of Free Software. And it has significant negative implications for Open Source in general.

There are two significant announcements. First, that Novell and Microsoft are entering into a patent cross-license, and second, that Microsoft is promising not to assert its patents against individual non-commercial developers. The bad part is that this sets Mirosoft up to assert its patents against all commercial Open Source users. There are also some little bonuses for Microsoft, like Novell will help Microsoft turn back the Open Document Format and substitute something Microsoft controls.When we say “commercial”, it’s interesting to note that there are really few non-commercial users: people who only use their computer for a hobby. Buying something on a web site, for example, is a commercial use. Most individuals use their computers in some aspect of making their livelihood. There will now be a Microsoft-approved path for such people to make use of Open Source, an expensive subscription to Novell SuSe Linux that costs as much or more than Microsoft Windows and that comes with a patent license.

So, the protection of non-commercial individual contributors means that you can make Open Source, but if anyone actually uses it for something other than a hobby or a non-profit organization, there is an implicit threat that Microsoft can bring a software patent lawsuit against them - unless they are a customer of Novell.

One of the questions yet to be settled is whether Novell will violate the GPL, the license of the Linux kernel and other important software, by offering patent protection that is exclusive to Novell customers. The press release pretty much stated that. On that topic, the preamble of the GPL says it best:

We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed at all.

Novell has clearly accepted that license. But it appears that they are now out to make patent protection a business differentiator.Even if everyone were to be protected regarding software that Novell distributes, there’s the tremendous collection of Free Software that they don’t distribute. A logical next move for Microsoft could be to crack down on “unlicensed Linux”, and “unlicensed Free Software”, now that it can tell the courts that there is a Microsoft-licensed path. Or they can just passively let that threat stay there as a deterrent to anyone who would use Open Source without going through the Microsoft-approved Novell path.

With this agreement, Microsoft also secures Novell’s assistance in pushing a pro-Software-patenting agenda in Europe and elsewhere. On a panel that I led at the AlwaysOn conference this summer, Novell’s president made clear their support for software patenting - a policy that works to the detriment of any Open Source developer who wants to have users without Novell’s blessing. You can be sure they’ll be at Microsoft’s elbow now in meeting with legislators and asking for increases in patent protection.

The timing of this agreement is significant. Microsoft and Novell are said to have been working on this agreement for some time, and sped up its announcement to take attention away from Oracle’s recent announcement and to further depress Red Hat in the stock market. The timing of the SCO case is also significant. Recent testimony in that case revealed that Microsoft offered to “backstop” VC firm Baystar’s investment in SCO, essentially asking Baystar to be a front through which Microsoft funded SCO’s attempt to… charge a royalty to users of Linux. SCO’s case is foundering, so here’s Microsoft’s next scheme to charge a royalty to users of Linux, and to make Novell into the next SCO. Groklaw, a widely-respected journal of technology law, probably said it best with their headline on this story: Novell Sells Out.

This entire agreement hinges around software patenting - monopolies on ideas that are burying the software industry in litigation - rather than innovation. If we’ve learned one thing from the rapid rise of Open Source, it’s that intellectual property protection - the thing that Open Source dispenses with - actually impedes innovation. And the Novell-Microsoft agremeent stands as an additional impediment.

Microsoft’s General Manager of Virtualization, Mike Neil, responded to VMware’s recent whitepaper attacking Microsoft’s recent licensing changes:

“Microsoft believes the claims made in VMware’s whitepaper contain several inaccuracies and misunderstandings of our current license and use policies, our support policy and our commitment to technology collaboration. We believe that we are being progressive and fair with our existing licensing and use policies and creating a level playing field for partners and customers. We are deeply committed to providing high-quality technical support to our customers who are utilizing virtualization technology. In addition, we are committed to working collaboratively with industry leaders to foster an environment of interoperability and cooperation that best serves our customers.”

Last time I checked, creating a “level playing field” did not include placing restrictions on how people use software. Taking a bite out of VMware’s technological advancements does not create a level playing field. All it does is hurt a customer’s ability to use innovative technology, while giving Microsoft more time to develop the same technology they are limiting the use of.

My favorite part of that statement is: “we are committed to working collaboratively with industry leaders to foster an environment of interoperability and cooperation that best serves our customers”. For those of use who’ve watched what Microsoft did to Netscape Navigator, Novell Netware, Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect, and many other innovative products and companies. (See: “Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish“.)

Mr Neil went on to say:

“We believe it’s better to resolve VMware’s claims between our two companies so that we can better serve customers and the industry. EMC is a long-time partner of Microsoft. We’ve extended this courtesy to VMware due to our mutual customers and partnership with EMC. We are committed to continuing to collaborate with VMware as we have been doing on regular basis. Consistent with this, Microsoft believes that we will be able to accommodate a mutually agreeable solution between our two companies and clear up any existing misunderstanding with regard to the points raised in the whitepaper.”

The fact is, Microsoft is trying to be less obvious in their anti-competitive approach to the industry. They want to avoid another anti-trust suit. Therefore, while obstructing competitors, they need to look like they are cooperating.

All the more reason I use Linux…

Heres a little history of Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Bill didn’t look amused!

Tags: Bill Gates, Computers, Microsoft