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Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

pedrocr.pt

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Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#361

Post by jussij »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #299
smacktoward wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They won't release products like Office for Linux Because the market for desktop Linux applications is too small to be worth considering. The whole reason they "love Linux" now is because Linux on the server gained too much market share for them to realistically oppose. They had to find a way to make money in that market that didn't involve somehow boiling an ocean of Linux machines. So they did. Windows is still o…

Would it be too crazy to think Microsoft could one day adopt Linux as their core for their OS though? They could probably implement the Win32 API as an API for a distro much like Wine does (but much better and from scratch) and keep those portions proprietary. This allows their OS to run on more platforms than Windows ever has. Much like how Edge is now Chromium based. Nothing is stopping them from making Linux serve…

> They could probably implement the Win32 API as an API for a distro

I'm no sure the powers that be at Microsoft have any great love for Win32.

Back when Windows 8 was released they introduced UPM (Universal Windows Platform) and that looked a lot like an attempt to actually kill off Win32.

They only backed away from this strategy after the backlash they got from Win32 Windows developers.

Move on to today and I think they are now using platforms like .NET Core 3.0 to gently move developers away from Win32.

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#362

Post by philwelch »

dredmorbius wrote: post #344
philwelch wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re citing things that happened almost 20 years ago if you’re talking about Solaris and BeOS.

Precisely my point. The tiger rarely changes its stripes.

Must be why Apple went out of business selling weird computers that ran an unstable proprietary OS using PowerPC CPU’s. And Google never went back to China because of their founders’ personal/family experiences living under communism.

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#363

Post by jay_kyburz »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #356
jay_kyburz wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can very much imagine a Goole Stadia but for real apps rather than games, where you are interacting with a video stream rather than the app itself.

That already exists. Citrix was doing this a decade ago - VMware too. I think Office was even one of the apps Citrix used to demo its thin client plan when Chromebooks first launched. Honestly, containerize it (for easy spinups), and if you have the bandwidth, a lot of apps would probably be really great run fully remote. Microsoft released Windows Virtual Desktop earlier this year that is basically a cloud version o…

Do you know if they run in a browser on Linux?

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#364

Post by caspper69 »

excursionist wrote: post #227
caspper69 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally I don't think it can be fixed not because the software is beyond saving, but the community surrounding it doesn't actually want it to be an experience for regular non-technical people. Try going to a mailing list and suggesting that editing text files in /etc isn't a practical end-user experience and see what response you get. Thank you. This is the truth, and your attitude on the issue will tell you whi…

> The non-technical among us, the 80-90% if you will, are not going to use a desktop Linux distribution the way they are currently setup. A home user is not going to use Google to fix a problem. They're not going to call their technically-inclined family member. They're not going to edit text files nor understand the minutiae of their hardware (and it WILL happen, eventually, 100% guaranteed). They are either going t…

> Is this basement-dweller fantasy something you have personal experience with or is it just a story you like to tell to make yourself feel better about your own technical ignorance and laziness?

As an embedded developer with over 20 years in industry and nearly that many with GNU/Linux (and a whole host of other UNIX systems), I say piss off with that. Who exactly do you think you are that you can be so incredibly presumptuous?

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#365

Post by caspper69 »

excursionist wrote: post #269
jhall1468 wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what are they going to do when they encounter a problem on windows? Pretty sure MS hasn't yet figured out how to directly install a Window manual into their userss brains, and the thousands of unanswered windows troubleshooting questions online can attest to that. They call an 800 number to get help or send it back. > your own technical ignorance and laziness? That, right there, was exactly what the person was r…

> They call an 800 number to get help or send it back. So they either attempt to get a solution from the same kind of service you get by buying a commercial linux desktop (or just the support), or they 'send it back' - which was exactly your complaint about Linux. You're contradicting yourself. > That, right there, was exactly what the person was responding to. It was actually a question regarding the need to tell ta…

> It was actually a question regarding the need to tell tales about 'crusty basement-dwelling kids now in their 50s'. What was the point of that other than to make yourself feel better?

I told the story. And it is a relevant one. There is an element in the community, not as pervasive as it once was, but it is not insignificant, that is and behaves exactly as I set forth. And I know it to be true, just as you do, and every other person here on HN knows it to be true. I lived through it.

That "attitude" is one of the major things holding back Linux on the desktop. Sad, but true. And it doesn't have anything to do with my technical prowess (or that of any HN reader for that matter). It's for Joe down the street. Jen who can barely turn a computer on, etc.

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#368

Post by pytester »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #180
pytester wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Microsoft loves Linux because it makes them money. I'm not sure why anyone would expect differently. I rather thought the point of the article was that Microsoft didn't actually love linux but pretended that it did to stave off irrelevance in markets where linux is kicking their ass (i.e. server). As he said, if they really loved linux and this isn't just another "embrace, extend, extinguish" ploy sugarcoated in PR…

None if the examples given are particularly sensible. Turn Word into a webapp? This has been happening for years, but no web editor can offer even 50% of the functionality offered by Word. Office365 is competitive with GSuite. Drop Win32? That's basically asking Microsoft to commit suicide and destroy all companies who rely on windows to run their software. They were trying to get people to move to UWP, and look how…

If you define "sensible" as "might impact existing MS monopolies" then no, NONE of it is particularly sensible.

Microsoft doesn't love Linux if it interferes with its monopolies. It never did and it never will. That's the whole point.

It didn't turn over any new leaf like it claimed. It just adapted its existing strategy as a means to stave off impending irrelevance in the server market.

Not turning over a new leaf WAS the "sensible" thing to do.

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#369

Post by elldoubleyew »

I would love to see MS release a version of Windows that is built on Linux but with a custom GUI to look and behave like Windows.

They could even add support for Windows apps through WINE to make it _feel_ like a native experience. Especially if they are willing to dedicate additional resources to better hardware optimization for WINE*

I have always hated Windows because I grew up on UNIX-like systems, whenever I want to do something non-trivial involving the OS I tend to get lost and give up pretty quickly. But I don't mind Windows GUI from a UX perspective, and I would be interested in running a "Linux-Windows"

*I am not sure what MS official stance on WINE is, however I would imagine that supporting it is likely in their long-term best interests.

Re: Microsoft's “Love” of Linux

#370

Post by will4274 »

simion314 wrote: post #189
zamalek wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux and Mac have to struggle with Wine and the FUD around it. What FUD? I don't think I've ever seen someone spread FUD about Wine. Are you referring to the website that lists how well games/apps work with it?

The accusation that Wine devs were looking at the Windows code and it is "illegal" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20341022

This post is about ReactOS, not Wine.
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