Microsoft Launches New Web Site Describing How It's Embracing Open Source (zdnet.com) 99
Microsoft just launched a new website "to showcase how it's embracing open source to 'bring choice, technology and community to our customers,'" reports ZDNet:
Microsoft, under CEO Satya Nadella, has said and done a lot to shed its image as a pariah of Linux and open-source software communities. With a Linux kernel for Windows 10, GitHub, a new Android Surface Duo, and the commercial cloud as its main source of revenue, Microsoft is a very different company than it was 30 years ago when it was afraid open-source software would gobble up its intellectual property and revenues.
Nowadays, it's got a growing number of open-source projects, including its hugely popular cross-platform code editor Visual Studio Code (VS Code), .NET Core, the hit JavaScript-based programming language TypeScript, and new open-source Windows developer tools like PowerToys and Windows Terminal... According to the company, over 35,000 engineers at the company are using GitHub Enterprise Cloud to host and release official Microsoft open-source projects, samples, and documentation....
Jeff Wilcox, a software engineer with the Microsoft Open Source Programs Office, announced the new site Thursday. He notes that it is "built by the Ruby open-source project Jekyll (that also powers GitHub Pages)".
Nowadays, it's got a growing number of open-source projects, including its hugely popular cross-platform code editor Visual Studio Code (VS Code), .NET Core, the hit JavaScript-based programming language TypeScript, and new open-source Windows developer tools like PowerToys and Windows Terminal... According to the company, over 35,000 engineers at the company are using GitHub Enterprise Cloud to host and release official Microsoft open-source projects, samples, and documentation....
Jeff Wilcox, a software engineer with the Microsoft Open Source Programs Office, announced the new site Thursday. He notes that it is "built by the Ruby open-source project Jekyll (that also powers GitHub Pages)".
Do I even need to say it? (Score:1, Troll)
*waves with old Asus EEE PC*
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It is funny how M$ completely miss the idea of FOSS. Compare Windows anal probe 10 to a standard Linux distribution, which one forces the installation of software without the will of the owner of the computer, which one monitors contents of the computer storage without the owners permission and which one monitors network access, and by monitor I mean feed back to it's controlling corporations M$.
The reason for FOSS M$ is to get away from privacy invasive, anal retentive control freaks like you pieces of shi
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Re: Do I even need to say it? (Score:2)
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ROFLCopter old MSFT (BTW 1993 called, they want their M$ meme back) didn't miss a thing kiddo, Linux has been "free" for nearly 30 years and has less users than Windows 8 does NOW
Systems running Windows - about 1.2 billion and falling [zdnet.com], once you exclude the inflated numbers caused by advertising botnets that Microsoft tries to push.
Systems runing Linux - about 2.6 Billion and rising [theverge.com] although it's very difficult to get the number of embedded devices where about 80% of ones with an operating system are some form of Linux so that probably adds several billion more.
and that version of Windows bombed worse than Justice League LOL.
But do not fear comrade, you and the other Linux coders can slave away forever, the corps like MSFT, GOOG, AMZN, etc will use it on the backend
Plenty of people making plenty of money on Linux. It's not like the Windows developers end up with more ownership of th
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ROFLCopter are you counting Google OSes, which are proprietary OSes slurping BIG DATA owned by Alphabet [arstechnica.com]? Because if so you just admitted Linux is nothing but corporate's bitch boi LMAO. The only thing "free" about Linux these days is free to bend over and spread those cheeks like Mr Hands because everyone from Alphabet to Twitter is sucking down that BIG DATA and if you don't STFU and toe the corporate line? Why you are problematic [engadget.com] and have to be canceled LOL.
Yes I am, and I agree with you on most of this. The only thing I'm saying is that this was a huge "thing" for Microsoft to "miss" and the fact that Google got them has actually slightly improved things since a) Android is itself more open in important than Windows Mobile or iOS and b) you can replace Android with things like LineageOS [lineageos.org] which you couldn't do with Windows Mobile and you can't do with iOS. The effect of that loss is that
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It is funny how M$ completely miss the idea of FOSS. Compare Windows anal probe 10 to a standard Linux distribution, which one forces the installation of software without the will of the owner of the computer, which one monitors contents of the computer storage without the owners permission and which one monitors network access, and by monitor I mean feed back to it's controlling corporations M$.
The reason for FOSS M$ is to get away from privacy invasive, anal retentive control freaks like you pieces of shite, DUHH!!! Completely over the heads, blinded by greed, unwilling to face reality.
Question? Do you own a smart phone? What browser are you using to read this comment?
To be followed by (Score:5, Insightful)
The websites explaining their positions on extending and extinguishing open source software.
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As a Linux users since 1998:
Microsoft used to suck
1. Visual Studio Code is fucking great
2. TypeScript is fucking great - and makes Javascript actually tolerable
3. C# is a fantastic language (.net is something else)
It's interesting that 2, 3 (and maybe 1) are all the work of Anders Hjelsberg - who older slashdotters will remember as the guy who made Pascal useful for programmers (Turbo Pascal) and was then poached into Microsoft with a fuckload of money and a promise to that he could do whatever he wanted.
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Microsoft used to suck
I think they still do, but just in different areas to than before. Now they're a service provider rather than a physical media distributor.
1. Visual Studio Code is fucking great
2. TypeScript is fucking great - and makes Javascript actually tolerable
3. C# is a fantastic language (.net is something else)
I'm not impressed with VS Code, it eats more RAM and doesn't earn it's keep IMO.
When MS opens MS Office with a GPL/MIT compatible licence then I'll consider. Until then I don't think they've moved out of the proprietary software line, and until then, I can't see them looking at free and open software as a threat to their business model. I think they're moving that way, s
Re:To be followed by (Score:5, Interesting)
The websites explaining their positions on extending and extinguishing open source software.
"We use GitHub for Open Source" - which just about summarises the whole point. Believe Microsoft is real about this at the point that a) they open source GitHub completely and b) they start regularly using the AGPL license or possibly even a stronger version which guarantees freedom even in the case of cloud providers.
As it is now, Microsoft is just another company like Google or Amazon that will happily take all your "Open Source" work, extend it and extinguish your ability to make a business or a profit from it. I think there's a space for one of the first or even second tier of cloud providers (Ali-Baba? IBM? Oracle) to make an actual commitment to moving irreversibly to open source. That means strong, cloud provider resistant, copyleft and all source handed over to an independent, non-aligned foundation which is contracted and committed to maintaining the software's open status.
As long as Open Source remains a "wherever there's no risk of interfering with major profits" option for Microsoft nobody can safely believe in their commitment. Somewhat counter-intuitively, this actually is the same mistake that Sun made and will actually threaten their long term profits. RedHat, which completely failed to even build a proper cloud but still manages to be a major software provider shows how valuable being trusted actually can be.
Microsoft: lock yourself out of the possibility to Extinguish and then you might actually benefit from this.
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I think there's a space for one of the first or even second tier of cloud providers (Ali-Baba? IBM? Oracle) to make an actual commitment to moving irreversibly to open source.
You do know that ORACLE is an acronym, right? The chances of them ever committing to Open Source are in the same ballpark as those of hell freezing over.
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I think there's a space for one of the first or even second tier of cloud providers (Ali-Baba? IBM? Oracle) to make an actual commitment to moving irreversibly to open source.
You do know that ORACLE is an acronym, right? The chances of them ever committing to Open Source are in the same ballpark as those of hell freezing over.
Probably I knew and cared about that once. I can say, with pleasure, that I haven't touched "ORACLE" software since doing some DBA stuff in the '90s and the only acronym I can remember is "One Real Asshole Called Larry Ellison" - is that the official one? From the small involvement I've had with cloud licensing of their software, I've confirmed to myself that you are probably right and, under current management, they would probably just be morally opposed to the idea that they might end up doing some good
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You do know that ORACLE is an acronym, right?
In many writing styles acronyms, unlike initialisms, are written with only the first letter capitalized.
This is more common in the UK than in the US, e.g. on BBC web sites (BBC being an initialism and not an acronym).
Re: To be followed by (Score:2)
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They're not quite lackeys, but they make a considerable amount of pageviews for Microsoft addicts.
Their inability to see the latest spots on the leopard chills me, or are they ignoring them?
Embrace extend exterminate is Microsoft's policy, as they're at war and always have been. War as a game in opensource is not the game of Windows that Microsoft learned to dominate Intel, HP, etc.
Will ZDLabs ever come back? Actually review something with some depth, or just repeat the Microsoft party line? In the day, the
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Fuck Microsoft. I've walked away completely from developing for Windows. The closest I get to MS's openness is I have to use an Excel library to pull data out of XLSX files.
Re: The problem with that open source... (Score:2)
The best part is, that nowadays, you can get by perfectly well without using MS.
And even MS users use Linux/Android phones and Linux on the servers, even those by MS, which makes this extra-funny. :)
Though I want to see some more love for a open, full, proper Unix, like BSD. Linux drifted away from "everything is a file" and towards "the desktop" a bit too much. I prefer the Plan9 approach.
Explain how this is "trolling"... (Score:2)
[Troll = http://www.catb.org/jargon/htm... [catb.org]
Go on ... I'll wait. ...
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Explain how this is "trolling"...
Go on ... I'll wait. ...
this Troll I think [catb.org]
You offended the Microsoft astroturfers by telling a truth about them I think. Apparently they still keep accounts to downmod.
"Embrace" (Score:3, Funny)
Slashdotters going to be triggered by that word (Score:1)
Re:Slashdotters going to be triggered by that word (Score:5, Insightful)
Welcome to slashdot, where the stories are made up and karma doesn't matter
Although to be fair, Microsoft is showing absolutely zero signs that it's changed its spots. When Windows is no longer the most malicious piece of spyware ever conceived, then maybe we can talk about this alleged "new Microsoft" that people keep talking about.
But probably not.
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Indeed. I do not expect MS to turn non-evil in my remaining lifetime. Sure, they suck at being evil as well (look at Oracle for somebody that does "evil" well), but their very presence is a constant annoyance.
...in my remaining lifetime. (Score:4, Funny)
reminds me of an old joke (that gets modified to remain relevant)
One day God sends down an angel to answer 3 questions posed by leading figures.
Trump says "Will the world ever be rid of the Chinese Communist Party?"
God replies, "Yes, but it won't be in your lifetime"
Xi pipes up "Will the American Hegemony die down and capitalism collapse?"
God replies, "Yes, but it won't be in your lifetime"
Richard Stallman asks "Will Microsoft or Google ever make a product that doesn't crash, doesn't spy and plays fairly with others?"
God replies, "Possibly, but it won't be in MY lifetime"
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It's strange how Windows has been getting worse but other areas have been getting so much better. Visual Studio Code is a great example - one of the best IDEs available now, open source and cross platform, highly extensible.
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It's strange how Windows has been getting worse but other areas have been getting so much better. Visual Studio Code is a great example - one of the best IDEs available now, open source and cross platform, highly extensible.
It really isn't that strange if you think about their history with all sorts of software. They only care about developing things when it's important for destroying their competitors. Internet Explorer stagnated for years and years adding only features to support their other attempts to drive out competition. Windows doesn't feel any pressure so it is basically failing.
A while ago Microsoft had a realisation that they were losing control of developers. Alternative "ecosystems" like AWS and Google were
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You mean they are trying to compete with their competitors? Not sure I'd mod that insightful.
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You mean they are trying to compete with their competitors? Not sure I'd mod that insightful.
Interesting, maybe. Normally they would use anticompetitive practices to drive them out of the market. I take it to mean that they have less ability to do that now, not that they wouldn't love to.
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Interesting, maybe. Normally they would use anticompetitive practices to drive them out of the market. I take it to mean that they have less ability to do that now, not that they wouldn't love to.
I think that's a big part of it, you're right. Remember though that they always seemed to do this. For example they entered the market for Kerberos servers and, initially, they appeared to be competing normally (embrace stage). Then they added proprietary extensions that worked only for windows and in a way that they knew other vendors wouldn't be able to safely use (extend stage) and then they ended up with ActiveX dominating the market due to being the only system fully integrated with Windows which wa
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It seems organizations are known for the competencies in certain areas and sometimes incompetent in others that it tries to tap into. Free software organizations it is the same thing.
Microsoft is really great making Office products for drone corporate types. MS Office is brilliant and best of the breed. Productivity tools they are ok and fairly good but had a few bad apples in there like VB 6 VS 2005 etc.
Operating systems MS won because they were cheap. Not better. I am in a flamewar now with some girl who
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I mean that they specialise in destroying other companies to take their value via unfair and dubious means. In areas of reasonably fair competition (search engines vs Google / databases vs Oracle / Social networking vs Facebook ) they tend to lose. They only want to invest in areas where they can see unfair leverage. Thus, recently they take on slack in corporate environments with the hope that their monopoly control of other information in the workspace (Exchange / Sharepoint / Office356) can be leverag
Re: Slashdotters going to be triggered by that wor (Score:2)
Built by ... (Score:2)
Microsoft will call it Hyde.
Next up: "extend" and "extinguish". (Score:3, Interesting)
MS is in this for money and power, nothing else. Ethics, honor or the common good is something that company culture does not even understand. MS is also a company that has time and again demonstrated it cannot do good engineering. Sometimes they manage "mediocre" engineering (Win7), bus usually they do "really bad" (Win10 updates, Office, etc.). The human race has been very lucky MS ignored the Internet for so long, even if that eventually found its own 2nd rated wannabees (Google, for example).
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I remain absolutely amazed by the number of otherwise rational and sane individuals who still believe it is somehow possible for obscenely large corporations to embrace and live by concepts like ethics, honor or the common good.
The hard reality is the larger the corporation, the fewer the values it embraces. Once a company grows beyond a relatively small critical mass, only two values remain: the creation and accumulation of maximum value for the shareholders, and the payment of obscen
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>"I remain absolutely amazed by the number of otherwise rational and sane individuals who still believe it is somehow possible for obscenely large corporations to embrace and live by concepts like ethics, honor or the common good."
Agreed.
It is not that large corps are "evil" as much as those other aspects are not their goal. We just need to make sure they play by the anti-trust rules so they don't squash competition and innovation. Then consumers get what they want and need, at affordable prices, and w
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.As long as consumers have choices (and good information), they have considerable power.
Choices, good information, and speedy, working mechanisms for addressing grievances.
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Once a company grows beyond a relatively small critical mass, only two values remain: the creation and accumulation of maximum value for the shareholders, and the payment of obscene compensation packages to the executives tasked with creating that value. Nothing else matters.
There's a partial truth in what you are saying; in a large enough organisation there will always be some sociopaths and it will be impossible to maintain a widespread reasonable moral culture. There's one prediction which comes out of your idea - "all companies are the same" - which is just wrong. Facebook is objectively much more evil than Google, possibly even than Microsoft. Apple and SpaceX, as companies including most people working for them, truly believe that they are there to change the world. The
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Good point, and I agree. Critical thinking demands an individual to be very careful about who they chose to do business with, based on honest evaluation of the each option.
The ultimate protest statement would be to withdraw from the world, because there are very few individuals, never mind businesses, who should be trusted.
Not a practical option for most of us,.
BTW: interfering with politics for profit is a business strategy as old as civilization. Almost all businesses do it. There are businesses created f
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"any organization with more than three members is f****ed." Guess that explains why God stopped at the Trinity. (In Catholocism, Mary is more like a shareholder.)
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What are your specific gripes about vscode? List them, so that the community can read and learn from you and plan accordingly.
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Please open source ... (Score:4, Insightful)
the telemetry code so that people can see what is being sent up to Redmond. Without that no one can trust the operating system. OK: other stuff needed, but this would be a big start.
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Unfortunately I think open sourcing Windows would be quite hard for them. There is probably a lot of stuff in there that is dependent on other licence agreements and patent licencing so they would have to be very careful about which components they open up.
Maybe stuff like fonts are covered by agreements that wouldn't allow free distribution, and it's not as simple as just replacing them as various stuff expects them to be there.
I wish they would try though. Start with some components and keep working at it
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... There is probably a lot of stuff in there that is dependent on other licence agreements and patent licencing so they would have to be very careful about which components they open up... I wish they would try though. Start with some components and keep working at it.
I would add that they should start openly and transparently replacing the components they can't open up, with ones that ARE open. They could write the new code themselves and contribute it to FOSS, and/or incorporate existing FOSS.
But realistically, with dreams that grand and improbable we might as well be smoking opium and grooving on visions of Kubla Khan.
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The next major release of Windows will probably have the Linux kernel, so there's that. Of course, the "Windows" part will be the closed source DE, which will allow all Linux applications to run on Windows but the Windows APIs won't be available for Linux, making compatibility a one way street. This will allow Microsoft to get back in the server game as a headless Windows won't be any different from other versions of Linux (until they gain back enough clout in the server market to start extending things. .
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Linux already is included with the May feature upgrade of Windows 10 (2004). It is only enabled if you turn it on under features with virtual platform support as it also uses part of Hyper-V.
I do not think that is their goal. Microsoft's goal is 2 fold.
1. Azure is their new OS. Windows is just a legacy component that runs on it. So is Linux. In essence they don't care if you run Linux as long as they can still bill you for it
2. Development tools being lost to new competitors. MS is worried with new applicat
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They don't have to open source windows. Port Office to Linux. Now that I've retired LibreOffice is good enough, but it wasn't good enough while I was working. The only reason I have a Windows box around the place was that I needed Office for work. Now, Mint 19 is doing fine for me. Eventually I'll blow away the Windows drive and do something useful with it.
Pragmatic (Score:1)
No no no (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck you, Microsoft.
If you were human, you'd be the kind of person that would murder your parents and then demand mercy from the court because you're an orphan.
After you found out that your best efforts couldn't kill open source, your tactic is to now claim you're 'embracing' it and acting like you've always open source software was great.
Sorry, my memory is too long to fall for this bullshit.
Thanks for the microsoft (Score:1)
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By "introduced" you mean put their name on Chrome, because all their browsers suck.
I wouldn't mind if they did the same with Linux, because then the earth would be rid of Windows.
Microsoft Launches New Website Embracing OSS (Score:3)
NOTICE: Do NOT look for these. Seriously. You'll want to use a laser followed by bleach on BOTH eyes if you do. Just assume that it's bad, chuckle, and move on.
Micro$oft losers (Score:1)
Darl McBride stooge version 2 at ms? (Score:2)
if sco-x [paid unix] was the attack dog for balmer and gates against linux and ibm - that went quiet now tsg group who will 'defend' microsofr when us linux users offend our new friends in microsoft land.
I really enjoy winding up system builders when i dont specify an os and they recommend a virus scanner to which i always ask them does it work on linux.
I personally think miscrosoft is bad and should be avoided like the plague.
old habits never change! (Score:1)
And yet... (Score:2)
Put your money where your mouth is Microsoft, but I suspect you won't.
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They did move Office to use the Office Open XML standard by default. That's certainly a major point in their favor. Not even close to enough to make up for all their other crimes, though.
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Office Open XML. Not the then-existing Open Office XML. They went creating a very similarly named but not compatible competing standard which still has a bunch of version incompatibilities. That's not a major point in their favour, that's another crime and a poorly masked one at that.
Oh yeah I had that bookmarked a while ago (Score:2)
It's still microsoft.com/getthefacts right?
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It's still microsoft.com/getthefacts right?
Oh yeah I member!
Member wehavethewayout.com [archive.org]?
Member that ran on OpenBSD?
what is an embrace (Score:2)
When they release their source code I'll believe (Score:3)
Seriously, that is all that it would take. Just publish the source code to all your operating systems Microsoft under a GPL license and I'll become a fan!
Engulf and Devour (Score:2)
I recall them embracing OS/2 once... (Score:2)
... and Java, and ...
Microsoft has a long history of tactical evil.
'Embrace' like a Venus Flytrap (Score:2)
Linux kernel? (Score:2)
With a Linux kernel for Windows 10, GitHub, a new Android Surface Duo, and the commercial cloud as its main source of revenue, Microsoft is a very different company than it was 30 years ago when it was afraid open-source software would gobble up its intellectual property and revenues.
Windows 10 has a Linux kernel? Since when? I thought that the main selling point of Windows 8 was their kernel, and in Windows 10, they cleaned up the Metro UX and split it b/w desktop and tablet
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The OS itsself, no, but it does now have the 'Windows Subsystem for Linux' - it's really a compatibility layer that makes it possible to run linux software on Windows. Mostly. It's like the anti-wine. It achieves this by running a cut-down linux kernel in a virtual environment, in a manner that is mostly transparent to the software being executed.
It's not really a sign of supporting linux though - it's more a way to encourage people, particually businesses, to not run linux. Why train your staff up in linux
Privates are still visible (Score:1)
As long as Microsoft keeps holding on to closed source software like Windows OS and MS Office etc, what's the point of draping itself with OSS while its privates are still visible.
Embracing... (Score:1)
... bad choice of word.
How would M$ "embrace and extend" open source? (Score:1)
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It's not just about rights and re-designation. Squeezing the Open Source out of the mindshare or marketspace would do it. "Steal their air".
Go to the Microsoft forum for the Linux release of "Microsoft Teams". Continued repeated refrain there is "but this feature has been in the Windows version for ages, why is the Linux version still behind?".
Seriously go read .
We love open source... (Score:3)
We're Microsoft and we love open source. Look, we even spliced a bag onto the side of Windows 10 with a Linux kernel into it! This way, you can run the modern, convenient, non-Free Windows system and still run all that free software that's available on the web! And the best part is that we can monitor and spy on you while you do it just like you were running only on Windows! It's a win-win, I'd say.
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Life hasn't been better since I ditched Windows. There's the odd time (once in a blue moon) that I'd start a Windows VM. Never, ever, run an insecure VM host OS such as Windows. Always use Linux or BSD, it needs rebooting less too.
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Well, sorry 'bout your life not being better. Mine has, except I aged 9 years.
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Well, sorry 'bout your life not being better. Mine has, except I aged 9 years.
Um I phrased that badly didn't I. What I meant to say is that life has been great. Or that it is so great, it couldn't be better. I ditched Windows. Life has been great. Hopefully it's clear now.
Oh yes, and the most open source of all isâ&# (Score:1)
ext4 and office (Score:2)
I would like Windows to be able to open linux style filesystems (natively, not with an addon kludge).
Maybe that would be the time to add case sensitivity to the OS so to be able to distinguish readme.txt and Readme.txt on such a filesystem.
I also would like linux to have the MS office suite with visio an excel.