Playing with Windows toys rather than mission-dedicated GNU/Linux

Summary: Citrix is promoting if not prioritising Windows Server and so does Amazon, which continues to discriminate against GNU/Linux

Microsoft booster Paul Thurrott writes the article "Microsoft's Virtualization Jihad" -- an article in which he describes an issue that has worried us for quite some time. All along Microsoft has just been buying its way into virtualisation and disrupting many companies in the process. This includes XenSource, which was acquired by Microsoft's ally Citrix (Novell too plays a role in this).

“All along Microsoft has just been buying its way into virtualisation and disrupting many companies in the process.”According to many articles [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], Microsoft and Citrix grow even closer. "Microsoft squeezes Citrix into Windows server pack," says this one report and one blogger asks: "What's Microsoft's real reason for killing VECD?"

We are actually made a lot more concerned not by Microsoft's increased relationship with Citrix but about what goes on at Amazon.

Early this morning, we received an announcement from Amazon the company is launching a pilot for EC2 customers to allow your enterprise organizations to move existing Microsoft Windows Server licenses to Amazon and receive a proper discount for the new EC2 instance.

As we explained last week [1, 2], Amazon grew increasingly hostile towards GNU/Linux, which it sold out to Microsoft [1, 2, 3] after it had hired many former Microsoft employees. Amazon is now encouraging adoption of its Windows servers using "discounts" [1, 2, 3] and one must not forget that Microsoft's lawyers were first with the news that Amazon will pay Microsoft for Red Hat servers. No "discounts" from Amazon for GNU/Linux? No "opt-out" for "Microsoft tax"?

As a SAAS blogger states in his new headline, "Microsoft really, really, hates the cloud" and Microsoft is trying to marginalise GNU/Linux where it is really successful, using racketeering tactics [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. This is not the behaviour of a software company, whose former employees changed Amazon like they were part of a political movement. ⬆