Linux

Microsoft releases code to the Linux community — and?

When Microsoft (historically not a fan of the GPL) announced this week that it would release 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community (meant to enhance the performance of Linux when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V), there were some raised eyebrows.

The code donation was certainly “a break from the ordinary,” according to the official Microsoft press release, in which a Microsoft official said the move was due in part to the current economic climate, to help companies consolidate their hardware and software. Continued »

Hyper-V update: Yes, it works with Linux

The Hyper-V experiment continues. My three Server 2008 VMs are extremely stable — no crashes at all, nine days continuous running. I made a number of restarts to address various upgrades and all three VMs came back automatically. Am also using a VM to test Windows 7, and no problems there either.

Now addressing how well Hyper-V handles Linux. Ubuntu 7.1 desktop installed with no problems at all, although still working on networking. My Linux skills are pitiful, so I draw no conclusions yet about whether the networking issues are related to Hyper-V or user error. Perhaps I’ll have to install the Unix services roll on the base server. Am also installing a more recent version, 8.1, and will probably throw a Linux server up there, too. From a CPU and disk perspective, no problem — this machine still has a gear or two on the upside.

I am running out of memory, however, now that I have 6 VMs on this 8GB machine. The culprit: SQL Server on the base machine. Why did I install that? I’ve been trying to get System Center Essentials (SCE) on to the base machine and that requires SQL Server. This is a very tangled web Microsoft has woven: you need SQL Server and Windows Server Update Services to run SCE. SQL Server, no big deal; WSUS, something of a project, as it involves Group Policy. So far I haven’t gotten SCE to install and may abandon the whole project.

It does point out an interesting conundrum: Hyper-V manager manages memory for VMs. Is it more efficient than the base OS is? In other words, if SQL Server were running in a VM, would it be using as much memory? Sounds like my next experiment.

I’m a PC, and I don’t necessarily like Microsoft

After the annoyingly strange Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercials promoting Microsoft, a new batch of adverts surfaced featuring the slogan “I’m a PC.” It goes something like this: Microsoft employees and users are meshed together in a montage of “I’m a PC and I [fill in stereotype of your choice here]” in a battle against Apple’s commercials portraying a PC negatively. Because, as they say in the ads, a PC is not a stereotype. But grouping all PC users in as Microsoft supporters is not?

Well, I’d like to go out and say I’m a PC, but I can’t give Microsoft all the credit in that decision.

By the way, why is Microsoft able to benefit from the term PC? Last time I checked, PC stood for personal computer and Wikipedia defines that as “any computer whose original sales price, size and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.” So regardless of the operating system, aren’t we all using PCs?

Please, correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t I just as much as PC user with my Linux operating system as you are with your Mac operating system? And, no, I have not forgotten that MS-DOS was the catalyst making the personal computer a reality. But nowadays, Windows is just one of the operating systems that make our PC world go ‘round.

Do you automatically associate being a PC user with Microsoft Windows? If so, is it because we’ve been trained to think PC = Microsoft? Maybe. Look at the constant barrage of ads we’re faced with. It happens every single day with everything. We automatically call all tissues Kleenex, gelatin of all brands is Jell-O and no one flinches when asked to “Xerox it.”

Is Microsoft playing into our ad vulnerability? Worse, are we falling for it? Let me know what you think.