Microsoft Announces Its Own Linux OS

If Linux doesn’t take off on IoT, that’s fine, but tbh, most existing companies won’t move unless there’s a really compelling reason.

I know my company would never make the migration.

I don’t care if its a joke, get those kernel molesters off my god damn platform now.

There isn’t enough money in operating systems anymore to bother with this.

@FaunCB tons of commercial vendors use Linux and BSD as a base and have closed sourced software running on top of it…

GNU Linux isn’t going anywhere because it is the primary dev target.

I know this is a joke but stay with me

I wonder if they would open source this platform. Not just on the parts they are legally required too but on the parts where they dont have too. Maybe they have their own commandline utilities that do certain things or interact with certain APIs. Would that part be open source?

Also will they play ball with people like mediatek who wont release their kernel sources?

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oh this isn’t a joke, the article linked before was but Azure Sphere OS isn’t and is very much a real thing. I would like to think that Microsoft would make an attempt to open source more parts of this than they are required to and don’t forget they did with PowerShell and Visual Studio Code so I see no reason why they couldn’t.

Actually Microsoft is already working with MediaTek as their the first to start producing chips that will support the devices for this platform.

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IoT is dominated by linux. Which is probably why they chose not to use windows CE. Much easier to pitch to companies like LG and Sony when theres essentially no extra work to move to microsofts distribution from webos or android.

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I thought that was already outdated years ago.

They continue it under the same name but I believe there is a win10 based CE.

Correction: it is up to win CE 8.0 as of 2013 making it, unsurprisingly considering the name, based on 8 or 8.1. With support up to 2023

I think finally Microsoft is learning that the OS is now commodity and maintaining their own is a waste of resources better spent on building software for every platform.

Hence: office for iOS, 365 for any decent browser, linux for cloud, azure support for linux, etc.

Ulterior motives or not, this is a good thing - as i think we’re past Microsoft being able to or even being incentivized to screw other platforms. Windows as a platform isn’t the cash cow it used to be - they missed the boat on mobile and inside of 5-10 years desktop/laptop will be a niche legacy platform (for niche power users only - hell as a network admin i can do most o fmy stuff with ipad today).

They need to get on board with providing software for the dominant mobile platforms, and cloud services, or die.

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I have seen this article also popup on other sources aswell.
I’m not sure where this all might be heading.
But it looks to me that MS is gearing towards linux allot latelly.

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If I got this right all they’re doing is providing a service, namely updates for the IoT devices running their distro for 10 years, which isn’t bad at all imo.
IoT devices infamously doesn’t get patched much.

But knowing business today they’re also gonna mine all data they can and throw in a backdoor lol.
So MS is just expanding their business, meaning they can start tracking how smart devices are being used too. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Exactly. That and POSIX is actually sane, unlike NT.

What I’ve learned about working in the IoT business is that you can institute policy, provide patch validation, offer to do the legwork required, etc… all day long, but IoT devices will never be patched. :frowning:

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I don’t see this working or at the very least I don’t see this being a big deal what so ever.

There are already tons of IoT solutions on the market. AWS makes setting up IoT devices about as easy as it can be. So microsoft isn’t really doing anything disruptive.

I have gotten to a point with MS where I seriously think that all of their business models are based on the idea that people will buy what ever shit they pedal simply because they are microsoft. That might have worked 10 years ago, but today…well lets just say there is a reason GE and Delta went to Apple.


Bottom line, the reason MS even had to go with linux is because windows is not modular enough to be a viable IoT platform. Windows is flat out inadequate and IMO this is MS’s way of admitting that fact.

MS is entering this space wayyyyy too late in the game, and if they think they can compete with amazon or even google, I think they are out of their god damn minds.

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That still means you have to deal with AWS.

Isn’t this SOP for Microsoft by now? “Hey, there’s a cool new technology or segment, should we get in now?” “Nah, let’s wait until it’s tested and true. Don’t want to risk anything”

Pffffft. Give me AWS any day of the week.

Maybe I’m spoiled by OpenStack, but the AWS console sucks and IAM policy drives me up the fucking wall. 6144 character limit on a json file? fuck off Amazon.

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I agree with your entire post save for this bit.

Microsoft got into the internet “way too late” and yet Internet Explorer killed all comers in the browser market for a good decade or more.

Don’t underestimate the power of inertia. Microsoft are and will be for some time, a force to be reckoned with in the IT space. No matter how garbage their products are. Windows 8 onwards is proof of that. Win8 was 6 years ago, they still don’t have a coherent vision of what Windows should be and yet its still dominant in business today - despite server licensing fees going through the roof.

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Pretty much SOP for Microsoft is to wait for a market to be established and then get in late and throw money at the problem (and aimlessly, around the problem, and at stuff that isn’t a problem in the hope that something, anything, will stick).

Back in the billg days it would be “until we dominate the market”, but since he left, no one has the balls to commit, so they half arse it for a bit until the product is the laughing stock of the industry (see: Windows mobile) OR until it just starts looking like becoming useful (See: Windows RT - if only it was paired with a decent screen, memory and storage - like an iPad) and then kill it off with fire.

Cloud looks to be an exception. I fully believe Microsoft will be irrelevant for end user operating systems in the next 5-10 years and will go back to being a cross platform application developer (like they were back in the early days) and cloud hosting company. Which i am fine with because they’ll be forced to compete on a level playing field again.

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I feel the same with many of the applications, except kate, kwrite and dolphin.

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Coming soon: Microsoft will regulate your bowel movements.

Repent! The end is nigh!