Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoCall me scaremonger if You want, but...
[Microsoft joins the Linux Foundation](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/announcements/microsoft-fortifies-commitment-to-open-source-becomes-linux-foundation-platinum)

To me the scary isn't that Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation but how many positive comments there are on the thread http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/11/microsoft-joined-linux-foundation-no-really about the direction Microsoft has taken recently. Yes they are releasing more software bits by opening code, developing Windows code for Linux and Linux code for Windows. At the same time they are performing a privacy and control travesty against it's users. This is something that should be sacred to the Linux community. This problem may be mostly with Canonical who integrated online search and ads into the desktop with Amazon in Ubuntu, so they seem to have at least partially embraced the same disregard for their users.

Not saying them being part of the Linux Foundation doesn't rub me the wrong a little, it does.

They are supporting linux only to the extent that profits them... no more and no less! They still don't give a shit about Desktop Linux, the moment when MS releases a MS Office suite for Linux I'll tell that they've actually started at least considering linux desktop as an option. But of course it wouldn't make any sense because they're already having hard time with Win10 adoption...

I honestly think that they're trying to switch their profit ways from desktop to cloud and storage, things like azure and so... Something that giants like Facebook, Google did a long time ago. If that is the case, I wouldn't even be surprised if they did decide to support linux with their software as well...

Or maybe they just did it to cover their data mining reputation and to show themselves as very non malignant and caring company... who knows what the motive is but it sure isn't the love towards linux on desktop.

Quoting: GuestWhatever Microsoft's motivation may be, I doubt that it's not malicious and Linux Foundation should have rejected any involvement from Microsoft. I see developers abandoning Linux and forking it into something else, a few years down the road, just to get away from Microsoft's control.

Wow, overreacting much? I think people need to take a step back and chill out.

This is the silliest thread in these forums in a while. I don't think you're a scaremonger, Comandante Ñoñardo. I just think you scare easily.

Great News
And suddenly I have a great idea, I will found a "World Peace" NGO together with EXXON, Shell and the USA :D
(No hate against Citizen of the USA, I have friends in the USA, too)

Sorry for this comment, I can not believe that this is true (to accept a company like MS which is all about money, profit, takeovers, government bribes, spying etc.). BTW how did Bill Gates created MS-Dos? He bought QDos and did some changes ...! What are the conditions to join the Linux Foundation?

Quoting: tuubiThis is the silliest thread in these forums in a while. I don't think you're a scaremonger, Comandante Ñoñardo. I just think you scare easily.

I think the title is a little over the top, but I also think it is legitimate to be concerned.

Quoting: 7IJ7oGreat News
And suddenly I have a great idea, I will found a "World Peace" NGO together with EXXON, Shell and the USA :D
(No hate against Citizen of the USA, I have friends in the USA, too)

Sorry for this comment, I can not believe that this is true (to accept a company like MS which is all about money, profit, takeovers, government bribes, spying etc.). BTW how did Bill Gates created MS-Dos? He bought QDos and did some changes ...! What are the conditions to join the Linux Foundation?

The conditions are probably almost soley on how many contributions you make to the kernel and how important parts of the industry view those contributions. On the RHEL side of things I think the Hyper-V code is considered extremely important.

Why guess when you can [read](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/bylaws). It's all there. TL;DR: You pay $ 500,000 per year, you're a Platinum Member. That gives you the kind of access any multinational corporation dependent on a particular technology would want to have. And the other members can vote to kick you out of the board if they think that's necessary, so you can all breathe again.

Quoting: tuubiAnd the other members can vote to kick you out of the board if they think that's necessary

Thanks for pointing this out.

Thank you @m2mg2 and @tuubi for your replies.

Quoting: tuubiWhy guess when you can [read](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/bylaws).

Thanks for pointing out the link!

Microsoft is a business. They cooperate with Linux/open source in areas where it makes sense for them. They also try to make the best of the Linux world work with their ecosystem, to prevent people from switching over entirely. They already lost the server and mobile markets to Linux, they don't want to lose development and the desktop on top of it. That's pretty much all. And no, they realized by now that they cannot destroy Linux. That might have been Ballmer's approach. But no more. Linux is firmly entrenched by now, anywhere but the desktop. They simply can't.

I'm just waiting for functionality to appear that only works, or works better, in the parts of Linux that are embedded in Windows, like what happened with Java 15 years ago. I hope we manage to stop them in time.