MS+Linux: From Cancer to Love

[viking60]

We all remember Steve Ballmer's attack on Linux from an interview given to the Chicago Sun Times in 2001. Linux was cancer - no less.
Since then Microsoft have come to their senses or at least realised that even they cannot do without it. So they have decided to embrace it and extend it..in fact they love it now
Here you see the new top dog at Microsoft -Satya Nadella - playing those new tunes:

Not that they will switch to Linux all together, but Linux will work greatly on Microsoft's Azure cloud. 20% of Azure is actually Linux and the support for Linux there is superb according to Microsoft.

Yesterday the service was extended to CoreOS a Linux distro that specialises on servers and clusters.

So at least when Linux is on Microsoft's servers: they love it!

Microsoft partnered with Cloudera to enable Azure, this probably means that Microsofts server is driven by Apache Hadoop

And Microsoft have invested in the infrastructure:
Yesterday they introduced a new set of machines in Azure, called the G-series. Those computers are based on the Intel Xeon E5 v3-processors.
According to Microsoft this is the biggest virtual computer that is offered today for public clouds. The biggest one has 32 processor cores, 448 gigabyte of RAM and 6,5 terabytes of local SSD based storage.

If this is not enough, you can opt for more storage in the Premium package.

The new Azure will also have a Marketplace where the customers can get an overview over applications, buy them, and role them out with a few mouse clicks.

Regardless of WIndows or Linux - what you need will be installed. The flexibility and ease of use is great. You do not have to invest in an expensive computer infrastructure - you will be using Microsoft's servers.

One server to rule them all?

The problem Microsoft faces is that these servers are all under US jurisdiction. That problem remains even if Microsoft is fighting it.

The German and Japanese car industry will probably never use Azure - for this very reason.

More here

[dedanna1029]

What I didn't understand before is if MS is honestly so hell-bent on fighting all this NSA stuff, then why don't they set up servers outside the U.S.?

Then it occurred to me, they've been in nothing but trouble with the EU, and the U.S. works closely with the GCHQ anyway. They've got themselves into quite a pickle with all that.

Still, well done them. Not something I'd use probably, but as long as they have Linux in the picture, that's a good thing.

[viking60]

What I didn't understand before is if MS is honestly so hell-bent on fighting all this NSA stuff, then why don't they set up servers outside the U.S.?

They do set up servers outside the US. The problem is that the US courts demand that they deliver data from these servers too, if they should so desire.
As Long as MS is an US company they have to dance along.

Naturally this is bad for business since Germans, French or Japanese are not in the same way convinced by the US system; they prefer their own.

Then it occurred to me, they've been in nothing but trouble with the EU, and the U.S. works closely with the GCHQ anyway

The EU has been spied upon too and that did not go down well with them. They have seen that the major US tech companies are used as an instrument for the US government - in unfair ways.

The GCHQ is not very "European", they are a more of a branch of the NSA and do work very closely with them. For the time being the UK government (in particular GCHQ) are willingly ignoring rulings of the EU courts regarding data retention.

But other European agencies have been under pressure from the US agencies to gather as much data as possible. those agencies have received an increased national attention and politicians are watching closely what they are doing these days.

In the old days they kind of seemed to live their own lives (James Bond needed that slack).

[dedanna1029]

Ever wonder if the U.S. is deliberately trying to spark a mock WWIII with all this? These days, war is like video games, but still we have to wonder. Is the U.S. trying to spearhead a one-world order that the conspiracy theorists speak so much of? Or at least trying to begin one? The U.S. government seems as if it wants to dominate everything... everywhere...

Also, why is MS just now loving Linux, when they've used Linux servers for years? Could they be trying to muscle in on the Linux market to attempt to destroy it?

All kinds of wild thoughts, and I'm suspicious.

[viking60]

The US seems to have the ambition to control the electronic communication of this world.
So far they have been pretty successful about it. All computer tech companies that matter are american, so there is every opportunity.

[Blackcrack]

i know, like i know, it's fixed/set/stated in the law of the States..
or something for an possible to have an backdoor
in any system or software where produce in the States ..
or something, how ever, nsa have in any case the fingers on it ..
like i think ..
best regards
Blacky

[R_Head]

MS is cornered in a box (pun intended). They want you to use their cloud service to serve you better (spy better). Of course, all you need is a lightweight OS and a browser. The OS is irrelevant as long the device connect to a remote cloud system.