Microsoft memberikan source code untuk Linux kernel

Sebuah tindakan yang mengejutkan dari Microsoft: secara resmi, Microsoft memberikan source code sebuah Linux driver untuk dimasukkan ke dalam Linux kernel. Linux driver ini memungkinkan Linux berjalan di atas Windows Server Hyper-V sebagai Englightened Guest, sehingga akan meningkatkan performance secara dramatis. Dan karena driver ini akan berada di dalam Linux kernel, semua distro Linux akan dapat memanfaatkannya. Terdapat juga pengumuman resmi di mailing list Linux Kernel oleh Greg Kroah-Hartman.

Microsoft sudah cukup lama bekerja sama dengan komunitas open source, termasuk memberikan kontribusi source code, seperti kerja sama dengan PHP. Tentu saja, salah satu hal yang menarik adalah bahwa source code ini diberikan dalam lisensi GPLv2, hal pertama bagi Microsoft 🙂

Channel 9 telah me-release video interview dengan Sam Ramji mengenai announcement ini. Detail lain bisa dilihat di Port25, terutama posting dari Hank Jansenn dan Peter Galli. Beberapa media IT terkemuka sudah meliput berita ini, termasuk NetworkWorld, cnet (dan cnet), TechWorld dan Linux.com.

Yang menarik adalah response dari Linus Torvalds, sang bapak Linux, yang diwawancarai oleh Linux Magazine. Ada beberapa pihak yang mengkhawatirkan keterlibatan Microsoft dalam pengembangan Linux kernel. Ketika ditanyakan apakah kemungkinan besar akan memasukkan source code dari Microsoft ini, mengingat kompetisi yang terjadi antara Linux dan Microsoft, Linus mengatakan (quoted, tanpa penerjemahan, highlight dan bold dari saya):

Oh, I’m a big believer in “technology over politics”. I don’t care who it comes from, as long as there are solid reasons for the code, and as long as we don’t have to worry about licensing etc issues.
In fact, to some degree, I’d be more likely to include it because it’s from a new member of the community rather than less (again, I’d like to point out that drivers are special. They don’t impact other things, so they get merged much more easily than some core changes).
I may make jokes about Microsoft at times, but at the same time, I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease. I believe in open development, and that very much involves not just making the source open, but also not shutting other people and companies out.
There are ‘extremists’ in the free software world, but that’s one major reason why I don’t call what I do ‘free software’ any more. I don’t want to be associated with the people for whom it’s about exclusion and hatred.

Selanjutnya, dia juga mengatakan (quoted, tanpa penerjemahan, highlight dan bold dari saya):

I agree that it’s driven by selfish reasons, but that’s how all open source code gets written! We all “scratch our own itches”. It’s why I started Linux, it’s why I started git, and it’s why I am still involved. It’s the reason for everybody to end up in open source, to some degree.
So complaining about the fact that Microsoft picked a selfish area to work on is just silly. Of course they picked an area that helps them. That’s the point of open source – the ability to make the code better for your particular needs, whoever the ‘your’ in question happens to be.
Does anybody complain when hardware companies write drivers for the hardware they produce? No. That would be crazy. Does anybody complain when IBM funds all the POWER development, and works on enterprise features because they sell into the enterprise? No. That would be insane.
So the people who complain about Microsoft writing drivers for their own virtualization model should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves why they are being so hypocritical.