[clug] Port 25 : Honeypots and User-Mode-Linux (UML): Part 1

Edward Lang edlang at gmail.com
Thu Jul 27 00:01:40 GMT 2006


On 7/27/06, Paul Wayper <paulway at mabula.net> wrote:
> As soon as I read Bill Hilf saying "[our] Linux customers", I thought, "this
> man truly does not get Free Software and Open Source if he thinks of Linux
> users as customers.

>From the first article:

Hilf said that on the Redmond campus, in discussions with colleagues,
he often finds himself acting as a proxy for a customer who runs
Linux.

"They will come to me saying 'Hey, Bill, is this something you think
Linux customers would really be interested in, or is this stupid?"
Hilf said.

So uh, it was the other Microsoft engineers who used that phrase :)

Further in that same article:

One example, Hilf said, was on the instant-messaging side. There was
an IM client called Gaim that allowed connectivity to MSN instant
messaging, but the program was not able to use the HTTP protocol, the
only technology means available to Hilf. So he set his team of open
source software experts to write the needed patch. He submitted it to
the open source group that oversees Gaim's development and the changes
were accepted.

"Now we can use it, and so can everyone else who uses Gaim," Hilf said.

... if the end goal is enriching the users' computing experience (and
providing customers with cost-effective products), then in my opinion
these sorts of strategic partnerships between various environments,
ideologies and whatnot are generally good things.
Regards,

Edward.


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