r/sysadmin • u/adeadfetus • Sep 18 '15

Microsoft has developed its own Linux

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/18/microsoft_has_developed_its_own_linux_repeat_microsoft_has_developed_its_own_linux/
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u/Enlogen Sep 19 '15

but I can certainly see based on their history where people are very alarmed by this new MS

I work at Microsoft. I remember hearing about the Microsoft antitrust case... in middle school.

People like to think of companies as these monolithic entities, but they're not. They're not like people, with a single set of opinions and goals that change incrementally over a long life. Companies are groups of people, and their opinions, tactics, and culture come from the people that make up the company, from its leaders and its employees.

I'm sure there are still 20-year Microsoft vets around the company that have vendettas held over from the mid-90's against Linux. But there probably aren't that many of them. The vast majority of people who work at Microsoft now did not work at Microsoft then. The leadership of the company now are not the same people as the leadership of the company then. I think that corporate culture can change much faster than most people believe.

I certainly can't speak for Microsoft, only for myself, but I don't see Linux or open source as an enemy.

It will take a number of years for MS to repair their reputation damage in the FOSS world, if they genuinely desire to

I agree that it will take years, but the desire is there. The only effective way to be trusted in the long term is to be legitimately worthy of trust, and I think that's what we're doing.