8 ms·
Am I paraphrasing this correctly: > Microsoft-branded ARM microcontrollers running an embedded linux distribution. Microsoft rolls out security updates over Az
by castle-bravo 8y ago
Am I paraphrasing this correctly:
> Microsoft-branded ARM microcontrollers running an embedded linux distribution. Microsoft rolls out security updates over Azure to reduce the risk of the device becoming part of a botnet.
It sounds great.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- tyingq 8y agoIt does. But, it's also pretty surreal for those of us that worked through the anti-linux Microsoft of the 90's. Windows subsystem for Linux, and initiatives like this are a real confirmation that MS finally "gets it". Right tool for the right job. Good for them. It's also a big swing for me in that I trust MS more than Google now to do the right thing. I'd have thought that impossible a couple of decades ago.
- minor3rd 8y ago> I'd have thought that impossible a couple of decades ago. Me too. Good thing Google exists now :)
- tyingq 8y agoAh, see what you did there. But 1998 is pretty close to a "couple of decades". And, I do trust MS more than I trust them now.
- paxys 8y agoGenerally agree with you, but those of us who knew Microsoft in the 90s are also cautious about the company getting too cozy with the Linux ecosystem, or any competing technology in general.
- pjmlp 8y agoI put Apple and Google on the same position as well.
- lsh 8y agoHave you actually used Windows 10?? The spotlight is squarely on Facebook and it's privacy intrusions right now, but the data collection when you own the OS must be several orders of magnitude larger. Don't be so eager to forgive them. They're not hugging Linux right now because they're a Good Company trying to Do No Evil.
- tyingq 8y agoThe corporate version of Windows 10 is different, which is where my experience lies. Good observation though. At a higher level, Gates seems more credible than Larry or Sergey to me. Totally biased by my history, but I'm pretty strong on that point. Gates mellowed out and seems more broadly interested in "greater good".
- lsh 8y agoThat's interesting! I had a hell of a time turning off all the nasty intrusive bits for my friends and parents. I should take a look at this version.
- tyingq 8y agoYeah, personally, I think Windows for home users is a dying market. My wife and kids use either ChromeOS or OSX. Everything has moved to the web for younger people. Fat client apps are increasingly the exception. Very niche...like "I need Adobe tools, Photoshop, etc". Office 365 is accelerating that. No need for local Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.
- PaulHoule 8y agoLinux is probably a more compact OS for IoT than Windows, but it is still pretty bloated.
- tyingq 8y agoShould be interesting to see if Fuschia gains some mindshare. Linux is "bloated" by LOC standards, but once you target a specific architecture, the LOC drops dramatically. The whole LOC drama train is tied to code that doesn't get compiled when you specify the architecture.
- Someone1234 8y agoAre people who call Linux bloated for IoT-like devices really talking about lines of code? I always thought the main focus was on Linux's architectural layout and how closely tied it is to the x86 memory model & the PC in general. Realtime OSs are currently in vogue because they better match how some IoTs devices work, so there's less abstraction that doesn't apply to that circumstances (and therefore improved performance/reduced complexity).
- tyingq 8y agoThat's fair. What's the counterpart example though? Is it Fuschia, or QNX, or similar? If so, why are they so niche? If there is an obvious better answer I'd expect more noise.
- caf 8y ago...how closely tied it is to the x86 memory model & the PC in general. Is it, though? Linux has had NOMMU (running without an MMU at all) support since the early 2000s, and the atomics / barriers are more based on Alpha's memory model than anything else - several of those primitives just compile out to a compiler barrier or nothing at all on x86. Most heavyweight things you don't need in an IoT context can be compiled-out completely - I think probably the major bit of infrastructure you can't is support for multiple user IDs?
- caf 8y ago
- arca_vorago 8y agoI assure you MS is still not to be trusted. I find this recent uptick in naivety about them dangerous. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me, can't get fooled again.
- tyingq 8y agoCurious about your feel on Google. Are they more, or less, likely to fleece end users as compared to MS?
- arca_vorago 8y agoI would say they are just as likely. I'd like to take a moment and point out that I see this response type way too often around here. Someone criticizes something and is almost always asked about why they aren't criticizing this other thing too. It's intellectually lazy and logically fallacious, as if when leveling justified ire on a person or company, you must then start listing every violator of the same type.
- tyingq 8y agoSure. Though I wasn't meaning to to be lazy. I'd made the comparison of the two already.
- amyjess 8y agoThis is FUD. The difference between the '90s and now is that in the '90s Microsoft spread FUD against Linux, and now segments of the Linux community are spreading FUD against Microsoft. FUD is bad no matter who spreads it.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y agoRemember the first two E's fellow 90s person. It's the third one that gets you.
- jjtheblunt 8y agoa couple of decades ago Google didn't exist, no?
- tyingq 8y agoIt's nitpicking. They existed in 1998, so "a couple of decades" is debating months in the scope of decades. Google incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998.
- simplexion 8y agoWhat the fuck is this comment? Seems excessively shill-like. Oh... I just remembered why I stopped coming here.
- kerng 8y agoIt's been an interesting ride for sure to follow Microsoft the last few years. The work they do with Azure and dev tools and open source is pretty neat. Folks like Scott Guthrie and the new CEO certainly made Microsoft more appealing again. It's kind of funny even how times change and how I think of Microsoft as one of the top cloud and online companies now, even before Google but still behind Amazon. Certainly a personal opinion, but that's how times and my opinion changed.
- yellow_postit 8y agoThat ordering accurately represents market share.
- tudorw 8y agome too, I've swung back to Bill, amazon, google, youtube, facebook, none of them are going to help us, Bill on the other hand, I trust you Bill, I love your surface book, I love your international approach, make the geeks proud again :)
- skepticmoron 8y agoSounds more like a PR push for Microsoft after lobbying fairly well on the cloud front. But, comparing google to Microsoft? You must be joking.
- tyingq 8y agoNot sure I get your stance here. Comparing them seems obvious, especially from a privacy angle.
- MichaelMoser123 8y agoNothing new under the sun https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix
- reacweb 8y agoMicrosoft is huge. Some parts of Microsoft got it, but some others are still in their old stance.
- dvfjsdhgfv 8y agoThey're being practical. They couldn't win - neither by spreading FUD, calling Linux "a cancer", funding the SCO lawsuit - so they choose to "embrace" Linux and open source whenever it suits them. On the other hand their contempt for the (paying!) customer is sill blatantly evident, it's right there in Windows 10 telemetry settings being reset.
- rbanffy 8y ago> MS finally "gets it" All I can read into it is that it's in their best interest to stop being deliberately hostile towards Linux and open-source. We can trust them doing The Right Thing only as long as The Right Thing benefits them.
- Alan_Dillman 8y agoThat Redhat commercial was right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE00uo3o_MU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE00uo3o_MU
- EnderMB 8y agoA lot of the fear I see on here about Microsoft makes me laugh. Many on here haven't got over the Micro$oft mentality from a decade ago. With that being said, there's a huge difference in acknowledging a company becoming more developer focused, and trusting a company. You shouldn't trust any company to do "the right thing", regardless of how noble their actions may seem on the outside. As Google have shown, your motto can literally be "do not evil" and in the space of a decade you are viewed as a monster.
- askvictor 8y agoIt does sound great. My main concern is what happens when devices go out of support. Will MS keep on pushing updates indefinitely? Will there be a mechanism to take over the updating process if they decide that a certain set of devices are no longer supported?
- walrus01 8y ago> over Azure Microsoft now cares about subscriptions (office365, etc) and monthly recurring "rental" revenue. Anything that gets people to spin up more Azure VMs and pay for them monthly, forever, and possibly get locked into the hosting platform, they're totally OK with. Doesn't matter if it's a Linux VM or a Windows VM running on their hypervisors as long as people are paying the bills.