Microsoft supports Ballnux (Ballmer-taxed GNU/Linux), but calls it Linux support

The pattern continues. What at first sight might seem like innocent news about Windows playing nice with GNU/Linux is actually more than that (or rather -- less than that). As Matt Asay puts it, "Microsoft opens up to Linux for System Center, but on a very short leash."

...one would expect Microsoft to support not only SUSE Enterprise Linux but also Ubuntu Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux as part of this. After all, if it's customers you want to benefit, then go for the two Linux distributions with the biggest community appeal (Ubuntu) and corporate appeal (Red Hat). Supporting only the Linux vendor with whom you have a measure of control through a patent agreement is, well, not so open.

Only Xandros and SUSE are mentioned in the blog post that he cites. Think along the lines of:

"We'll play nice with you, as long as you share your revenue with us."

This was seen before. Microsoft tries to also exclude non-Ballnux Linuxes from virtualisation and a fresh reminder of this came only yesterday from the CTO of XenSource, who is now a CTO inside a Microsoft partner. He said:

At the same time, Microsoft with Hyper-V in the OS, and the Linux vendors with Xen have the opportunity to leverage the same code base through a different delivery model, where the OS virtualizes more instances of that OS, or other guests. This model is still in its early stages – the Linux vendors don’t virtualize Windows well, and Microsoft Hyper-V doesn’t support Linux particularly well.

Mind the ever-increasing intersections between Xen and Hyper-V, which favour SUSE and Windows. It's a case of Microsoft, Novell and Citrix against VMWare and other companies that empower GNU/Linux. Is Microsoft truly that allergic to GNU/Linux or is it just being self-serving to the point of becoming anti-competitive and breaking the rules? As mentioned the other day, Microsoft will facilitate some more GNU/Linux inside its own business, so is this not hypocrisy? Here is another new report about that.

FAST: Bring on The Microsoft Linux/Unix Ties

Did someone pull a FAST one on Microsoft?

[...]

You could almost hear a collective "gulp" coming from Redmond. After all, the purchase of a company that supports Linux/Unit would seem to go against the company's DNA, wouldn't it?

It has truly become a little embarrassing for the company which does not eat its own dogfood, so to speak. Microsoft has deployments of GNU/Linux that are not tied to its extortions (for now) while at the same time Microsoft is ignoring these deployments and excluding them from support. Which way would it be, Microsoft? You can't snub your #1 competitor forever. The European Commission is growing impatient. ⬆

Related items (external):

• Hyper-V Leaves Linux Out In The Cold
• Why Novell is happy with Hyper-V