10.10.10
VMB_ware — Now Headed by Former Microsoft Executives — is Claimed to be Promoting Microsoft DirectX Inside Linux
Paul Maritz
Photo by Robert Scoble
Summary: Non-standard and Microsoft-controlled APIs are said to be pushed into Microsoft’s #1 competition (Linux) via the VM company people should beware as it also strives to buy Mono
MICROSOFT is not the only company which attacks GNU/Linux using software patents, not anymore anyway (thus the need to diversify). But some of the companies which are attacking GNU/Linux using software patents are either Microsoft partners or entities which are accommodated by former Microsoft staff and today we’ll show some examples from the news. This post concentrates on VMware, which would be better off known as VMB_ware.
As we’ve been stressing and documenting for a couple of years, VMB_ware is the home of several ex-Microsoft executives. Even Microsoft bloggers are saying it. This does not take some crazy theory to show, one just needs to read the CVs of the top management there.
We have written several lengthy posts which explain how VMB_ware suffocates Zimbra [1, 2, 3], which poses a risk to Microsoft’s Exchange (VMB_ware’s parent company, EMC, appears to be promoting Exchange). Why can’t more people foresee the negative effects of SUSE being offered to VMB_ware?
One of our readers who goes by the name of gnufreex raised a curious point a short while ago. By the way, his opinions are his own are there are attempts by mobbyists to smear Techrights over mere informal words (IRC) of people who participate, so be sure to check context. To quote just a portion of a much longer discussion:
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[phoronix/@phoronix] Wine 1.2.1 Brings A Bunch Of Fixes: While a lot of new code has already been introduced into the Wine 1.3 developm… http://bit.ly/cwdVRe | Oct 08 17:49 | |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: [Phoronix] Wine 1.2.1 Brings A Bunch Of Fixes .::. Size~: 15.41 KB | Oct 08 17:49 |
|---|---|---|
| gnufreex | Wine guys shitcaned Direct3D | Oct 08 17:50 |
| gnufreex | No can do says them | Oct 08 17:50 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[mairin/@mairin] @bkuhn can i see the logo? i haven’t seen any links to it! | Oct 08 17:51 | |
| Tekk_ | O.o | Oct 08 17:51 |
| Tekk_ | isn’t direct3d needed for like……..everything now? | Oct 08 17:51 |
| gnufreex | No.. Not that way. | Oct 08 17:51 |
| Tekk_ | hmm? | Oct 08 17:51 |
| gnufreex | I meant Linux native Direct3D | Oct 08 17:51 |
| Tekk_ | ah | Oct 08 17:51 |
| Tekk_ | as opposed to through wine | Oct 08 17:52 |
| gnufreex | VMware is creating Linux native Direc3D | Oct 08 17:52 |
| gnufreex | They bought Tungsten Graphics | Oct 08 17:52 |
| gnufreex | They work on Gallium3D | Oct 08 17:52 |
| Tekk_ | oh dear god | Oct 08 17:52 |
| gnufreex | And they now pluged Direct3D in Galallium | Oct 08 17:52 |
| Tekk_ | that’s the biggest patent trap I could ever imagine | Oct 08 17:52 |
| gnufreex | Yes | Oct 08 17:52 |
| Tekk_ | go for it vmware! but take novell with you first! | Oct 08 17:53 |
| gnufreex | I am sure VMware wil crosslicense. | Oct 08 17:56 |
| gnufreex | We can hate them next. | Oct 08 17:56 |
| Tekk_ | yayyyy | Oct 08 17:56 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[bkuhn/@bkuhn] @mairin, which logo? Conservancy logo @fabsh designed is on sfconservancy.org . First candidate !FaiFCast logo from @vinzv is: ur1.ca/204bi | Oct 08 17:57 | |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[mairin/@mairin] @bkuhn oh wow i really love the logo @fabsh did, kick ass! | Oct 08 17:57 | |
| DiabloD3 | [12:52:41] <Tekk_> that’s the biggest patent trap I could ever imagine\ | Oct 08 17:58 |
| DiabloD3 | how so? | Oct 08 17:58 |
| DiabloD3 | and by the way | Oct 08 17:58 |
| DiabloD3 | its for d3d10/11 only | Oct 08 17:58 |
| DiabloD3 | the API is pretty different from 9 and earlier | Oct 08 17:58 |
| gnufreex | Really, VMware is deader as KVM is better and better. | Oct 08 17:58 |
[...]
| DiabloD3 | Tekk_: yes, but they cant patent anything here that GL isnt already in violation of | Oct 08 17:59 |
|---|---|---|
| Tekk_ | oh, so there’s hope | Oct 08 17:59 |
| DiabloD3 | its just an API | Oct 08 17:59 |
| DiabloD3 | it works the same way GL3 in future mode does. | Oct 08 17:59 |
| Tekk_ | so they could basically just make it a wrapper? | Oct 08 18:00 |
| Tekk_ | cool | Oct 08 18:00 |
| DiabloD3 | well, wine is “just a wrapper” | Oct 08 18:00 |
| DiabloD3 | they’re making a native state tracker just to make it faster | Oct 08 18:00 |
| gnufreex | But there is again problem. | Oct 08 18:00 |
| DiabloD3 | theres no “problem” | Oct 08 18:00 |
| gnufreex | Games will port to Linux and it will be DirectX | Oct 08 18:01 |
| gnufreex | That is bad., | Oct 08 18:01 |
| DiabloD3 | you can write D3D10/11 native code on linux… but you cant run that code on windows | Oct 08 18:01 |
| gnufreex | They should be OpenGL | Oct 08 18:01 |
| DiabloD3 | and you cant take your windows code and compile it on linux | Oct 08 18:01 |
| DiabloD3 | so you still need wine | Oct 08 18:01 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: and no | Oct 08 18:02 |
| DiabloD3 | go look at d3d10/11 | Oct 08 18:02 |
| DiabloD3 | its almost an entirely different API | Oct 08 18:02 |
| gnufreex | OpenGL is better. I looked. | Oct 08 18:02 |
| DiabloD3 | opengl3 in future mode, and d3d10/11 do shit how the card wants it | Oct 08 18:02 |
-TRIdentica/#techrights-[mairin/@mairin] @fabsh i could tell from the smaller version – it’s brilliant. the circuit board roots too  |
Oct 08 18:02 | |
| DiabloD3 | they both act and work the same | Oct 08 18:02 |
| DiabloD3 | microsoft basically admitted d3d was trash, and cloned opengl with a d3d naming style | Oct 08 18:02 |
| DiabloD3 | its sorta like what c# is to java | Oct 08 18:03 |
| gnufreex | So they will later do extend and extinguish | Oct 08 18:03 |
| DiabloD3 | get what Im saying? | Oct 08 18:03 |
| DiabloD3 | well, they cant extend and extinguish | Oct 08 18:03 |
| DiabloD3 | opengl keeps pushing features first | Oct 08 18:03 |
| DiabloD3 | microsoft has to somehow get AMD and Nvidia both to support d3d features before opengl has them | Oct 08 18:03 |
| DiabloD3 | which is impossible | Oct 08 18:04 |
| DiabloD3 | microsoft refuses to let vendors be part of the design process | Oct 08 18:04 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[fabsh/@fabsh] @mairin Hehehe…. Thanks. @bkuhn had the original idea and we refined it together. I really like doing logos! |
Oct 08 18:04 | |
| DiabloD3 | which is extremely hilarious about d3d10 | Oct 08 18:04 |
| DiabloD3 | they copied an API that has 100% vendor input AND is older than d3d | Oct 08 18:04 |
| gnufreex | Stupid people think DirectX is better than OpenGL. And most people are stupid. So it doesn’t matter. | Oct 08 18:04 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: well now it no longer matters | Oct 08 18:05 |
| DiabloD3 | d3d IS opengl. | Oct 08 18:05 |
| DiabloD3 | well, d3d10/11 is | Oct 08 18:05 |
| DiabloD3 | its the same fucking api, just with incompatible syntax. | Oct 08 18:05 |
| gnufreex | I have tough time beleiving that. | Oct 08 18:05 |
| DiabloD3 | microsoft has basically killed d3d10/11 adoption because of it | Oct 08 18:05 |
| DiabloD3 | all the hardcore opengl haters wont go to 10/11 from 9 | Oct 08 18:05 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[bkuhn/@bkuhn] @fabsh sounds like you and @vinzv should fight over who gets the !FaiFCast logo,then. competing logo proposals could be fun for me & @kaz |
Oct 08 18:06 | |
| DiabloD3 | (which 10/11 is vista7′s big selling point for gamers) | Oct 08 18:06 |
| gnufreex | So then, this is the time when OpenGL should be pushed hard. No phuckin DirectX | Oct 08 18:06 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: not at all. | Oct 08 18:06 |
| DiabloD3 | the problem is, the state tracker doesnt do anything for me | Oct 08 18:06 |
| DiabloD3 | portal 2 is a d3d9 game. | Oct 08 18:06 |
| gnufreex | Why to let MS kill DirectX | Oct 08 18:06 |
| gnufreex | ? | Oct 08 18:06 |
| gnufreex | If Linux have DirectX, OpenGL is dead | Oct 08 18:06 |
| gnufreex | Nobody will use it | Oct 08 18:07 |
| DiabloD3 | not at all | Oct 08 18:07 |
| DiabloD3 | the most important game of the year is d3d9. | Oct 08 18:07 |
| gnufreex | Everybody thinks DirectX is best thing since slice bread. | Oct 08 18:07 |
| DiabloD3 | and no, NO ONE thinks directx is any good | Oct 08 18:07 |
| gnufreex | Everybody are idiots. | Oct 08 18:07 |
| DiabloD3 | it costs sales. | Oct 08 18:07 |
| DiabloD3 | no android sales, no mac sales, no iphone sales. | Oct 08 18:07 |
| DiabloD3 | and theres only one game console that uses d3d, and thats xbox, and the xbox doesnt do 10/11, it uses a customized version of 9 | Oct 08 18:08 |
| DiabloD3 | so if they’re shipping pc AND xbox, its going to be a d3d9 pipeline (or multiple pipelines, and everyone hates that) | Oct 08 18:08 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[fabsh/@fabsh] @bkuhn OK. I have an idea for one. Will try to squeeze it into my schedule…. @vinzv | Oct 08 18:09 | |
| DiabloD3 | all the other game consoles either offer some opengl or opengl-like api, or the rendering pipeline is completely different (ps2/psp/ps3, etc) | Oct 08 18:09 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: dx is rather dead | Oct 08 18:10 |
| DiabloD3 | most games being sold are either opengl, or are neither gl or d3d. | Oct 08 18:10 |
| DiabloD3 | why sell a silly PC game, when you can sell 25 times more on the DS? or 15 times more on the wii? | Oct 08 18:10 |
| DiabloD3 | or if you need those next gen graphics, 10 to 15 times more on a PS3. | Oct 08 18:11 |
| DiabloD3 | xbox has very few native xbox titles, and they dont sell well | Oct 08 18:11 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: so d3d10/11 on linux really doesnt mean shit at the end of the day. | Oct 08 18:11 |
| DiabloD3 | not only that, they’ve cut themselves out of the largest gaming segment: casual gamers | Oct 08 18:13 |
| DiabloD3 | I already mentioned iphone and android | Oct 08 18:13 |
| DiabloD3 | but appletv and google tv may end up being casual gamer platforms as well | Oct 08 18:13 |
| DiabloD3 | and microsoft is totally fucked out of that. | Oct 08 18:13 |
| gnufreex | Apple has propriatary OpenGL extensions. Stipid Steve Jobs. | Oct 08 18:14 |
| DiabloD3 | nope. | Oct 08 18:15 |
| DiabloD3 | Apple is a vendor, they actually CAN name new extensions | Oct 08 18:16 |
| DiabloD3 | its legit | Oct 08 18:16 |
| DiabloD3 | and several apple extensions have made it into core. | Oct 08 18:16 |
| DiabloD3 | apple maintains their own opengl stack for osx, and also a different one for opengl es on iOS hardware | Oct 08 18:16 |
| DiabloD3 | mesa also has extensions | Oct 08 18:16 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: you cant just mysteriously have a phantom extension | Oct 08 18:17 |
| DiabloD3 | you have to register for a number, and you cant register without a completed spec | Oct 08 18:17 |
| DiabloD3 | gnufreex: I have no problem with Apple proposing new extensions | Oct 08 18:19 |
| DiabloD3 | even Microsoft had that power at one time, before they quit the opengl board | Oct 08 18:20 |
| gnufreex | When I last heard about that, Apple was not feeding back into core. | Oct 08 18:20 |
| gnufreex | You say they are. | Oct 08 18:21 |
| gnufreex | Then it’s fine. | Oct 08 18:21 |
The short story is that it’s being suggested that VMB_ware is promoting Microsoft’s DirectX at OpenGL’s expense, even inside Linux. The problems are obvious; just like with Mono, it’s about control and patents. It’s something to keep an eye on, for sure.
Microsoft is already attacking GNU/Linux using patents (even in the courtroom several times) and that’s a subject we’ll cover in the next post. █
