[TriLUG] Microsoft contributes drivers to Linux kernel

[Alexander Ray]

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 9:53 AM, Greg Cox<glcox at pobox.com> wrote:
>> On Jul 21, 2009, at 6:18 AM, Steve Holton wrote:
>>
>>> making it easier to host a virtual machine, running
>>> Linux.....on Windows.
>>
>> And we would want to do that why?
>
> If they can be host to Linux guests they're poised to enter a battle with
> VMware for the major piece of the market for which the only two OS'es in the
> shop are Win and Lin.
>
> If I have a Linux guest on a HA cluster of Windows, oh ha ha Windows always
> needs to be rebooted, but if I can flop the guest to another host (a la
> Vmotion) whenever I want, then suddenly I have a leg up on baremetal Linux
> since I can work around hardware issues.  If MSFT undercuts VMware's
> pricing,
> it'd be worth a look.
>
> People who don't mind rebooting their guests can use the free stuff,
> Xen, ESXi, whatever.

I think this is what they're doing.  Arming themselves with a big
stick to beat VMWare with.