"Hell freezes over" as Microsoft submits Linux code

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 21 Jul 2009 at 08:28

Microsoft has released 20,000 lines of driver code to the Linux community under the General Public License.

Microsoft has submitted the code to the Linux kernel community for inclusion in the Linux tree, and claims it will be made available as part of the 2.6.30.1 stable release.

The code covers three Linux device drivers that should improve the performance of Linux OSes running as a virtualised guest on Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Microsoft claims the move is intended to help customers consolidate their server infrastructure in the data centre, admitting: "today's release would have been unheard of from Microsoft a few years ago, but it's a prime example that customer demand is a powerful catalyst for change."

It's a spectacular turnaround for a company that once described Linux as a "cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches".

However, Microsoft made no mention of its previous hostility to the world of open source, merely describing the move as "a break from the ordinary".

The move was met with surprise by Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin who claimed "Hell has frozen over, the seas have parted," before proclaiming himself "tickled".