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back to article Microsoft has crafted a switch OS on Debian Linux. Repeat, a switch OS on Debian Linux

Put down your coffee gently. Microsoft has today released the source code to an open-source operating system, based on Debian GNU/Linux, that runs on network switches. The software is dubbed SONiC, aka Software for Open Networking in the Cloud. It's a toolkit of code and kernel patches to bend switch hardware to your will, so …

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  1. wolfetone Silver badge
    Linux

    The Spring of Free Love

    Dear Microsoft fanbois,

    We all have our differences, we will always see things differently. But I'd like to be the first to welcome you in to this brave new world of open source software and Linux. Leave your negativity at the door, leave your misconceptions back on the drawing board. This is a new age, an enlightened age. Embrace it.

    Viva La Penguinista's! For the war has been fought and has been won.

    What a time to be alive!

    37 17 Reply
    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Beware the E E E effect

      Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

      It is the Microsoft Way.

      Granted, extinguishing Open Source is pretty much out of the picture, but Microsoft will stop at nothing to pervert what it touches.

      So let's accept, but verify, ok ?

      67 5 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Beware the E E E effect

        Look what they already done to the GNU/Linux skype users.

        36 1 Reply
        1. Nate Amsden
          Reply Icon

          Re: Beware the E E E effect

          which is what exactly, having used skype on linux for the past 5 years I see little has changed(which I am fine with). Does the job for me.

          3 0 Reply
          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Beware the E E E effect

            http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/25/linux_skype_outage_outrage/

            11 1 Reply
            1. Sil
              Reply Icon

              Re: Beware the E E E effect

              Really not sure this was against the Linux community.

              Skype development has been a disgrace for years.

              The Skype client for Windows 8 should be a case study of everything that can go wrong in software design and development.

              I am amazed Microsoft did so little for so long when competitors like WhatsApp, Messenger, SnapChat, Line & Co grew tremendously quickly.

              1 0 Reply
      2. wolfetone Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Beware the E E E effect

        "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

        It is the Microsoft Way.

        Granted, extinguishing Open Source is pretty much out of the picture, but Microsoft will stop at nothing to pervert what it touches.

        So let's accept, but verify, ok ?"

        In many ways Linux is like herpes. That stuff will never leave or go away.

        6 44 Reply
        1. SineWave242
          Reply Icon

          Re: Beware the E E E effect

          You surely meant Microsoft, not Linux? Because that terrible, monopolistic, money-grabbing company has been sticking with us for at least 5 years too long. It should go away because an OS that everybody uses shouldn't be owned by one US company. It's as simple as that. And since Microsoft is a company, it can go bust. Open Source canno9t, and it will always exist, one way or another, and that's what all people should use.

          0 1 Reply
      3. Crazy Operations Guy
        Reply Icon

        "Microsoft will stop at nothing to pervert what it touches."

        RedHat has already beaten Microsoft to the "irreparably Pervert Linux" party...

        Why, oh why do I have to edit a frickin' script to change network information, then run a separate script that interprets and runs that one, what was wrong with ifconfig?

        22 1 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "Microsoft will stop at nothing to pervert what it touches."

          Because it wasn't enterprisey enough. RPM and kickstart are abominations before $DEITY too.

          0 0 Reply
        2. Concrete Gannet
          Reply Icon

          Re: "Microsoft will stop at nothing to pervert what it touches."

          To separate configuration *data* from *code*. The latter, if well-written, should not change, or should not change often. Code can be supplied by a third party.

          You make your own decisions about config data, and may want to change it more frequently. The code re-reads your updated config data.

          Too many systems mash these two together, which means an attempt to modify config data risks breaking code that was working perfectly well and did not need to change.

          1 1 Reply
      4. Avatar of They
        Reply Icon
        WTF?

        Re: Beware the E E E effect

        Yeah, lets keep the kernel with Torvald and friends, MS will only "buy" their acceptance otherwise, like they did with the .docx standard.

        By buy I mean, 'negotiate quickly in a friendly manner.'

        Still the cynic in me says that windows 10 is all about data stealing, so is this a step to start drilling into the Linux world?

        I can't but feel MS are playing their petty games with this as I have no trust for them, instead of taking this as a positive step.

        9 1 Reply
      5. SMOKEING
        Reply Icon

        Re: Beware the E E E effect

        If Linux manages to survive after ingesting systemd, coping with Microsoft EEE is a matter of two farts.

        0 0 Reply
      6. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Beware the E E E effect

        "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish."

        In this case I don't think that's the motive. It was likely cheaper to grab this off the shelf solution than customising Windows to do the job in the time scale in which they needed it. For instance, the Arm CPU Windows kernel version wasn't in production back then.

        I wouldn't be surprised if this was replaced with a Windows kernel based version in future though. Windows does have advantageous network stack capabilities like native hardware offload support that Linux currently doesn't.

        "In many ways Linux is like herpes"

        They got rid of Linux hosts from Hotmail eventually. I wouldn't count on it never going...

        0 0 Reply
    2. Bob Vistakin
      Reply Icon
      Linux

      Linus Torvalds: 'If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.'

      Patience, comrades - we're almost there.

      16 6 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Linus Torvalds: 'If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.'

        Linus should beware of trojan horses.

        With Ballmer it was very much a partisan company. Our way or the highway. Under Nadella its very much more focused purely on the bottom line. ie MS does whats best for MS's profits. End of. Hurt pride is no longer relevant. If releasing a Linux distro would earn them a fortune they'd do it. If using Linux on a switch instead of embedded Windows saves them development costs they'll do it. If EOL'ing Windows 7 before its time gets everyone onto Win10 and saves support costs even though Win10 isn't popular - they'll do it.

        Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because MS and Linux intersect in a good way occasionally its some sort of victory - its not. Balmer might have been a muppet, but you knew where you stood with him (and you had to stand, he'd thrown away all the chairs). MS under Nadella however is much more mecurial and unpredictable and they are NOT your friend.

        15 0 Reply
        1. Concrete Gannet
          Reply Icon

          Re: Linus Torvalds: 'If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.'

          What you are saying is that Microsoft have changed from being an irrational profit-making company to a rational profit-making company.

          In what way is the new Microsoft different from every other profit-making company you do business with?

          0 0 Reply
    3. yossarianuk
      Reply Icon

      Re: The Spring of Free Love

      I wonder if it will end up like the Arab spring ?

      11 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Cow Herder
        Reply Icon

        Re: The Spring of Free Love

        Jeez, a bit nihilistic, even for this site. Have an upvote.

        0 0 Reply
    4. Scorchio!!
      Reply Icon
      Trollface

      Re: The Spring of Free Love

      "Viva La Penguinista's! For the war has been fought and has been won."

      Welcome to the Borg. Soon you will not recognise yourself.

      3 0 Reply
    5. werdsmith Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: The Spring of Free Love

      Leave your negativity at the door, leave your misconceptions back on the drawing board.

      That's a good idea, but it's actually a two way street.

      Those devout of Linux piety should fear; the reaper in the form of Microsoft has arrived at the door with the intention of corrupting from within.

      Become a major part of the Linux world, to bend and twist it to their own ends. Then pick it up in its jaws as a dog with a rabbit and shake it violently until it is lifeless. Beware, there is a strategy.

      I think Microsoft were one of the major kernel contributors back in 2012.

      (disc: I am an OS agnostic, most of my work is on Linux but I don't do the counter-productive sanctimony crap).

      9 1 Reply
      1. sabroni Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Unhappy

        Re: Then pick it up in its jaws as a dog with a rabbit and shake it violently until it is lifeless

        Yeah, that's leaving your negativity at the door.

        3 3 Reply
        1. werdsmith Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Yeah, that's leaving your negativity at the door.

          I don't understand your comment. I just said that negativity goes both ways.

          3 0 Reply
    6. phuzz Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Gimp

      Re: The Spring of Free Love

      Microsoft have been releasing open sourced software since at least 2009, not that anyone noticed.

      0 2 Reply
    7. KeithR
      Reply Icon

      Re: The Spring of Free Love

      "Viva La Penguinistas! For the war has been fought and has been won."

      Aw bless - were we in a fight?

      Never noticed...

      0 1 Reply
    8. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The Spring of Free Love

      You're so stupidly smug

      and Patronizing

      making Penguinistas look bad...

      0 0 Reply

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. CAPS LOCK

    Embracing Linux Microsoft?...

    ... whatever next?

    1 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Embracing Linux Microsoft?...

      "Windows as a service" which equates to Microsoft Software running from anything anywhere.

      I'll get my coat, as the only running I'll be doing is in the other direction! :D

      14 0 Reply
  4. nkuk

    I think hell has just frozen over.

    12 1 Reply
    1. Montreal Sean
      Reply Icon

      @nkuk

      The pigs haven't started flying yet though.

      6 0 Reply
  5. hplasm
    Pirate

    Well,

    That explains systemd...

    36 4 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well,

      Linus Torvalds: 'If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.'

      Pyrrhic victory :(

      10 1 Reply
      1. asdf
        Reply Icon

        Re: Well,

        systemd, svchost.exe, brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug.

        12 0 Reply
    2. Fatman
      Reply Icon

      Re: Well,.. That explains systemd...

      I have always wondered if Poettering wasn't a Microsoft "wolf in sheep's clothing" with the systemd mess.

      3 0 Reply
      1. asdf
        Reply Icon

        Re: Well,.. That explains systemd...

        Not just Poettering but Red Hat (his employer) in general. Look at what they did to Gnome too. At least you have to say about Microsoft they wrote the majority of their ecosystem from the ground up, the fools.

        2 2 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Well,.. That explains systemd...

          "Microsoft [...] wrote the majority of their ecosystem from the ground up"

          I think a history lesson is called for, but I don't have the time right now.

          NT was acquired when Dave Cutler and team joined from DEC.

          SQL Server wasn't written by Microsoft.

          And if you go further back, where did DOS come from?

          Plenty of those around.

          7 0 Reply
          1. asdf
            Reply Icon

            Re: Well,.. That explains systemd...

            Why I said majority and not all. They are famous for stealing quite a bit (see Lotus 123) but the kind of shit Red Hat has pulled to get around at least the spirit of the GPL is at least that level of asshatery.

            0 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Right, here's the catch

    "This underlying hardware must therefore implement the SAI, an API that Microsoft contributed to the Open Compute Project (OCP) in 2015. The OCP, launched by Facebook in 2011, encourages hardware manufacturers to produce generic gear to the project's open standards and specifications so large organizations can buy the machines cheaply in bulk and use software to customize and control the gear as they wish."

    Now get everybody to use it, and slowly change the API/hardware over a few years until you have to use the MS version otherwise it all goes tits-up.

    Come on people, this is typical MS history.

    Hope we are all not fools.

    47 6 Reply
    1. Keith Glass
      Reply Icon

      Re: Right, here's the catch

      . . . history says otherwise.

      I, for one, WELCOME our new Switching Overlords. . . .

      2 7 Reply
      1. Nifty Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Right, here's the catch

        ...@Welcoming our new Switching Overlords...

        That was ironic, right? The downvoters I assume had an irony amputation.

        0 0 Reply
    2. Will Godfrey Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      Re: Right, here's the catch

      @ linicks

      So I'm not the only one to immediately spot that.

      10 2 Reply
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Right, here's the catch

      "Hope we are all not fools."

      We're not. But it won't usually be us making the decisions. It'll usually be the PHBs and MBAs and other Certified Microsoft Dependent types.

      Still, interesting times.

      4 0 Reply
      1. sabroni Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Hope we are all not fools.

        Well surely some of us must be. Did you mean "Hope we are not all fools"?

        1 0 Reply
    4. Sammy Smalls
      Reply Icon

      Re: Right, here's the catch

      Fork or get forked is what I think you mean.

      0 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That must hurt

    Confirming publically that Windows in any flavour can't do what they need.

    Windows Datacentre edition .. Nope

    Windows Enterprise .. Nope

    Windows standard .. Nope

    Windows Core.. Nope.

    Windows IoT .. Nope.

    Don't all of these environments have switches and users ?

    Whereas a more open operating system that can be modified, expanded or paired down to suit the specific need can be.. How odd. Perhaps there is a learning opportunity here ..

    Perhaps it's time to Open the windows and smell the fresh air outside the matrix ?

    24 7 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    OMG!

    Could it be the year of the Microsoft distro on the desktop?

    21 1 Reply
    1. Lars Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Linux

      Re: OMG!

      "the Microsoft distro on the desktop?". No not really, that is called Windows. But there could be Windows on a Linux kernel. Something Linus wrote about positively some twenty years ago. But then Microsoft was strong and expanding towards servers with the NT, Open Source and Linux was a threat and a pain in the arse. So the FUD began, dirty tricks so well rehearsed in their past.

      But to day there is no way to kill Open Source or Linux and, last but not least, creating proprietary standards has become more and more difficult.

      To day more or less each and every IT company in this world is using Open Source and Linux or BSD. Only Microsoft has tried to fend it off. The first company who made a billion on Linux was IBM and that was a long time ago. With Ballmer gone, perhaps MS has come to the conclusion that there is more to gain than to loose, The next interesting question, in that case, is, if they will join or fork Linux, And that is all up to them. Interesting times (as always).

      .

      9 2 Reply
      1. Captain DaFt
        Reply Icon

        Re: OMG!

        -creating proprietary standards has become more and more difficult.-

        Ahem... Red Hat - systemd... Google - Android.

        Unfortunately, it's not impossible.

        5 0 Reply
        1. MacroRodent
          Reply Icon

          Re: OMG!

          -creating proprietary standards has become more and more difficult.-

          Ahem... Red Hat - systemd... Google - Android.

          What is proprietary about systemd? The source is there, anyone can use it, or modify it for free, or just not use it. The very definition of non-proprietary.

          The more I use systemd-based Linuxes (at work, I should add), the more I see systemd-bashing as nonsensical. It does the job, and faster than SysV init, which wastes much of its time spawning processes to perform trivial things.

          2 3 Reply

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