A look at Microsoft's love for Linux
New Love

Open Source means more than just giving out a few pieces of code to an Open Source project; maddog explains.
For months, the technical news media has been telling us how much Microsoft is "Open." They point to announcements from Microsoft about how they are cooperating with The Linux Foundation on putting code into the Linux kernel that will allow Linux hypervisors to support Microsoft virtual environments better. They point to the number of patches they have contributed to the Linux kernel and how they work with Canonical to put "Linux" functionality on top of Windows 10.
Companies that were almost crushed by Microsoft in the early days are now partnering with the Redmond giant. People whom I have known for years and are otherwise well respected in the "Open Source" community take these crumbs of code and crow that Microsoft has seen the light.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Microsoft only has one partner: Microsoft. And nothing demonstrates this more than Microsoft's attempts to restrict the browser for Windows 10 to Edge, because Edge will work better with Windows 10 and be integrated better with Cortana, and Edge will integrate better with the rest of Windows 10 applications, or so they say. This stinks of the browser wars of years ago, spawned by Internet Explorer.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.