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In a move that's going to raise a lot of eyebrows, Microsoft has joined the Open Invention Network to 'protect Linux and other important open source workloads from patent assertions'.

For those who haven't heard of the OIN, their mission statement is quite a simple and honourable one "The Open Invention Network is a shared defensive patent pool with the mission to protect Linux.". To find out more about the OIN see here.

Hold the phone, this isn't gaming news?

Correct. However, this is still very interesting and extremely surprising from a company that has been pretty hostile to Linux in the past. It's the kind of move that could result in some big shifts in the entire industry.

We know Microsoft’s decision to join OIN may be viewed as surprising to some; it is no secret that there has been friction in the past between Microsoft and the open source community over the issue of patents. For others who have followed our evolution, we hope this announcement will be viewed as the next logical step for a company that is listening to customers and developers and is firmly committed to Linux and other open source programs. 

Surprising is one word for it! Honestly, I'm in shock at this news. Does this mean we can firmly put the "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" phrase to rest and replace it with Embrace, extend, and protect? With Microsoft joining, they're bringing with them around 60,000 patents.

Moves like that, makes me seriously think about how Microsoft have changed, especially since their previous CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux "a cancer".

I think it also shows how far Linux has come as a platform for all things too, especially with Microsoft having a "Windows Subsystem for Linux" along with their support for running Linux on their Azure cloud computing platform.

What do you think to this?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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jens Oct 10, 2018
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I'm pretty sure that this is just a rationale long term business decision and that there is no huge conspiracy behind it. I guess Microsoft assumes that in the near future the big money will be earned from cloud computing and not from the silly desktop market. You can't ignore Linux in the server market, let alone try to beat it. So if Microsoft would not make Linux a first class citizen in Azure, most sane customers would go for Google Cloud or AWS and not for Microsoft's own cloud platform. Which OS's are hosted in Azure or even on which OS Azure services runs on are really not important as long as customers pay their subscriptions to Microsoft. This is imho just another move to make Azure more attractive to potential customers, nothing more, nothing less.

"If you can't beat them, join them"


Last edited by jens on 10 October 2018 at 8:31 pm UTC
F.Ultra Oct 10, 2018
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Quoting: razing32the CoC Linux added seems to value politics over code quality.

Please stop listening to the trolls. There is nothing in the CoC that says that you must accept code from people, all it dictates is the way you reply when you e.g reject a patch. There is no coup going on in the Kernel either, it's not the foundation that says that Linus is taking a sabbatical, it's Linus himself.
dude Oct 10, 2018
Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: razing32the CoC Linux added seems to value politics over code quality.

Please stop listening to the trolls. There is nothing in the CoC that says that you must accept code from people, all it dictates is the way you reply when you e.g reject a patch. There is no coup going on in the Kernel either, it's not the foundation that says that Linus is taking a sabbatical, it's Linus himself.

Thanks. Full ack on this.
Koopacabras Oct 10, 2018
hope this means that DXVK, Wine or Steam won't be sued over the DirectX api.
Purple Library Guy Oct 10, 2018
Quoting: jensI'm pretty sure that this is just a rationale long term business decision and that there is no huge conspiracy behind it.
You're probably right. Now if only I were clear on the exact difference between those two things.
Salvatos Oct 10, 2018
Quoting: GuestI expect them to turn Windows into a Linux distro + proprietary libraries/API/DE at some point. It will be cheaper for them to maintain, will be able to enter most markets Windows can't enter/dominate now, like mobiles/servers, and will still allow them to be top dog, assuming they create a good and polished Linux based desktop OS and make linux-compatible versions of their stuff like Office...
Man if Windows becomes a Linux distro it's going to become tricky telling people they should switch to Linux.
jens Oct 10, 2018
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Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: jensI'm pretty sure that this is just a rationale long term business decision and that there is no huge conspiracy behind it.
You're probably right. Now if only I were clear on the exact difference between those two things.

Alright, I should have omitted the second part of that sentence. Sensible topic ;)
Shmerl Oct 10, 2018
It is a positive development. Gaming department in MS however is still run by lock-in proponents. That's why we don't see Vulkan on Xbox.
x_wing Oct 10, 2018
Quoting: SalvatosMan if Windows becomes a Linux distro it's going to become tricky telling people they should switch to Linux.

My only concern would be that they start saying: "Linux was difficult, but Microsoft made it easy".
Shmerl Oct 10, 2018
What I wonder about, is whether exFAT and ActiveSync implementations can be used in Linux distros without patent threats from MS now.

Until now, commercial distros (like SailfishOS) and Android distributors (commonly mobile device manufacturers) had to pay MS for this stuff.


Last edited by Shmerl on 10 October 2018 at 9:43 pm UTC
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