Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

blogs.msdn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 87 posts

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#31

Post by cookiecaper »

threeseed wrote: post #25
MrZipf wrote: post #22

The open-sourcing is a sign that MSFT is in a tricky spot (BYOD, mobile, tablet, games) and desperately needs to improve relations with the outside world. Expect we'll also see MSFT using more open source in products to compete effectively though I wonder what'd happen with internal best practices that the outside world doesn't have, e.g. SAL. Will they contribute back? Let's see. Inside MSFT there used to be minimal…

It's also a sign that Microsoft sees its future in services. Which in that case means that protecting the former "company jewels" of Windows and Office ceases to be less important.

I don't think it's about Windows and Office becoming less important as concepts or products, but that their old sales channel and use cases are outmoded. Windows and Office will still be Microsoft's cash cows; they'll just collect the fees through Azure, OneDrive, and other software-as-a-service packages. Open-sourcing is about keeping Microsoft's platforms competitive so that people will rent Azure nodes.

Microsoft realized they were becoming to FOSS as OS X is to Windows and is trying to counteract that. Microsoft's vision is still valid; they want Microsoft technology running every computer in the world.

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#32

Post by wslh »

cookiecaper wrote: post #31
threeseed wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also a sign that Microsoft sees its future in services. Which in that case means that protecting the former "company jewels" of Windows and Office ceases to be less important.

I don't think it's about Windows and Office becoming less important as concepts or products, but that their old sales channel and use cases are outmoded. Windows and Office will still be Microsoft's cash cows; they'll just collect the fees through Azure, OneDrive, and other software-as-a-service packages. Open-sourcing is about keeping Microsoft's platforms competitive so that people will rent Azure nodes. Microsoft…

Indeed it's clear that Office is very important, they are just unifying products and services. Now you have a unified subscription of $ 9.99 per month for Office 365 + Office Desktop Apps.

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#33

Post by wslh »

ximeng wrote: post #14

One barrier to developing drivers for Windows is the driver signing policy https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff... which requires you to pay for a software publisher certificate.

What's the barrier for that? You can develop drivers without signing the drivers and obtain them in the deployment phase.

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#34

Post by anon4 »

MrZipf wrote: post #22

The open-sourcing is a sign that MSFT is in a tricky spot (BYOD, mobile, tablet, games) and desperately needs to improve relations with the outside world. Expect we'll also see MSFT using more open source in products to compete effectively though I wonder what'd happen with internal best practices that the outside world doesn't have, e.g. SAL. Will they contribute back? Let's see. Inside MSFT there used to be minimal…

I think we should stop speculating each OSS effort from Microsoft as a sign of weakness and/or desperation. They might eventually conclude that open-sourcing things makes them seem like losers, rather than strengthening developer relations, which is what they're really going for (among other things, I'm certain).

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#35

Post by khoffrath »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #26
pjmlp wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like both eco-systems a lot, however Java is currently more open than .NET, specially if you look around for available certified JVMs.

In this particular case, i'd prefer Windows above Oracle (Java) anytime, considering they deliver malware with their Java Setup... Edit: Some people give a link to an alterantive download without malware... You know 99% of all Java downloads don't know that, do you?

You can download installers without the malware from their technetwork: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/inde...

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#36

Post by pjmlp »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #26
pjmlp wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like both eco-systems a lot, however Java is currently more open than .NET, specially if you look around for available certified JVMs.

In this particular case, i'd prefer Windows above Oracle (Java) anytime, considering they deliver malware with their Java Setup... Edit: Some people give a link to an alterantive download without malware... You know 99% of all Java downloads don't know that, do you?

There isn't any malware when downloading from

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/inde...

Or when packaging the Java application with the runtime

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/tools/windows...

Or using one of the commercial JVMs that compile Java to native code

Or just bothering to read the dialog when installing it from Java.com.

While it is true the bundling shouldn't exist in the first place, any knowledgeable Java developer knows how to get applications deployed without it being an issue.

Actually my biggest problem with Java is Google dragging its feets and making the Android fragmentation a return of the J2ME headaches. Sun and Oracle were right all along.

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#37

Post by tonyedgecombe »

ximeng wrote: post #14

One barrier to developing drivers for Windows is the driver signing policy https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff... which requires you to pay for a software publisher certificate.

I used my Authenticode cert for this, it wasn't very expensive.

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#38

Post by josteink »

pikachu_is_cool wrote: post #21
aceperry wrote: post #18

I must say, I'm very impressed with all of the open source moves that MS has done lately. I wonder if that will drive more adoption of C# and cause Oracle to open up Java. I'm not a fan of C# because it's basically only used on windows systems, despite xamarin and et al.

Yeah, especially since you need to pay a regular fee to use Xamarin, and it's not libre software either. If a free Xamarin came out I'd jump on the C# boat in a heartbeat, which I guess is what MS is trying to do with all this open sourcing (free software-ifying?).

> Yeah, especially since you need to pay a regular fee to use Xamarin

You can use Monodevelop[1] which is 100% FOSS. AFAIK Xamarin is just Monodevelop with some extra wrappers and custom libraries for cross-platform mobile-development. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

If you're just making normal applications, libraries or web-solutions you don't need Xamarin.

[1] http://www.monodevelop.com/

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#39

Post by ikonst »

NamTaf wrote: post #10

What effect will this have on the ability to boost driver support in Linux, if any? FreeBSD has ndisgen [1], but would this help improve that or a broader set of driver use in Linux? Secondly, what about WINE? [1]: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ndisgen

It means nothing. WDF is a high-level framework for drivers on top of Windows NT – basically a convenience library you link with. While using WDF, you can freely call regular NT functions too.

It's like MFC to Win32.

Re: The Windows Driver Frameworks are on GitHub

#40

Post by ikonst »

whoopdedo wrote: post #13
shmerl wrote: post #12

Will it help making drivers for filesystems which MS doesn't care to support?

Drivers aren't much of a threat to the Windows hegemony because since Vista they've needed to be signed. If you don't mind taking the risk of running with driver signature verification turned off you can get FSDs for XFS and Ext4.

Last time I checked, code signing certificates could be had for $400 a year, not an exorbitant price to many tech enthusiasts.
Post reply on HN