Skype replaces P2P supernodes with Linux boxes hosted by Microsoft

[BigCityCat]

Does Microsoft really hold a lot of animosity towards Linux?

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/skype-replaces-p2p-supernodes-with-linux-boxes-hosted-by-microsoft.ars

[Paqman]

Microsoft is a big animal, it's unlikely that attitudes to Linux are homogenous throughout. Skype is a new addition, and from what was said at the time of the acquisition are allowed to run themselves to a large degree.

[dpny]

Microsoft is a big animal, it's unlikely that attitudes to Linux are homogenous throughout. Skype is a new addition, and from what was said at the time of the acquisition are allowed to run themselves to a large degree.

This. Any animosity MS may have is overruled by their need to not screw up the Skype acquisition.

[Tibuda]

Microsoft does not have any "animosity". Linux never was and never will be a threat to Microsoft. It is the FSF that has animosity toward proprietary software and even popular Linux distros.

[KiwiNZ]

microsoft does not have any "animosity". Linux never was and never will be a threat to microsoft. It is the fsf that has animosity toward proprietary software and even popular linux distros.

+1

[Paqman]

Microsoft does not have any "animosity". Linux never was and never will be a threat to Microsoft. It is the FSF that has animosity toward proprietary software and even popular Linux distros.

Well, as I said above: Microsoft is a big animal. I'm sure their Windows and Office divisions don't waste time worrying about Linux, but I'm equally sure their cloud and server division sees Linux as a serious threat.

Animosity is probably a little strong though, we're talking about a big bland corporation here. Most employees are just there collecting a paycheck, and competitors are just that. Like you say, the real animosity is reserved for the zealots, and most of those are in our camp.

[neu5eeCh]

Nevertheless, I'm surprised Microsoft is still offering Skype for Linux. They have nothing to gain by doing so. Skype's Linux users represent, what? .1% of Skype users? Microsoft has never authored any of its in house software applications (to my knowledge) for the linux platform. I fully expect that, any day now, Linux to be cut out of the loop.

[alexfish]

I doubt if that would ever happen

only thing possible is a Skype phone bill + MS tax ;)

[wewantutopia]

Nevertheless, I'm surprised Microsoft is still offering Skype for Linux. They have nothing to gain by doing so. Skype's Linux users represent, what? .1% of Skype users? Microsoft has never authored any of its in house software applications (to my knowledge) for the linux platform. I fully expect that, any day now, Linux to be cut out of the loop.

Ya never know. I was under the impression that Linux is gaining a (relatively) large market share in developing nations due to it's price.

That is a pretty big potential market, especially if they wish to speak to their family members abroad for free.

[neu5eeCh]

Ya never know. I was under the impression that Linux is gaining a (relatively) large market share in developing nations due to it's price.

That is a pretty big potential market, especially if they wish to speak to their family members abroad for free.

We ought to start a virtual betting thread (for virtual pizzas) just to see how our squirrel-gut-reading capabilities hold up.

Here are my bets:

1.) MS will drop SKYPE within the next 13 moths. Reason given: Microsoft cannot ensure security on Linux clients (or some such drivel). They will then assert that innovation is their top priority -- and that that somehow excludes the Linux platform.

2.) Barnes & Noble will declare bankruptcy after the next Christmas season.

3.) Netflix will be available on Linux within the next 16 months. OK, I'm going out on a really creaky limb. I say this because of Shuttleworth's nonsensically evasive answer when asked about Netflix at OMG Ubuntu.

[Zukaro]

I don't think Microsoft will drop support for Linux. If anything I think they'll slowly start bringing some of their programs to Linux; not anytime soon likely, but once Linux is more popular on the desktop they'll definitely do that.

Microsoft is a software company, they make software for more than just Windows. If the Linux desktop becomes more popular they'll eventually make software for it.

Also, I've heard Microsoft has actually contributed code to the Linux kernel (I think it was all driver support). I've also heard they were one of the biggest contributes.
(this was on one of the videos on the Linux Foundation's website; I forget which video however but if I come across it I'll link it)

[BigCityCat]

I kind of threw that animosity thing out there because of microsoft buying skype and how that affects linux users but what I really found interesting was them leaning on Linux boxes for security reasons.

[sdowney717]

Sine anyone can make a distribution of linux, then even MS might do that.

For a project like this, the Skype bosses dont windows malware screwing up the system.

[alphacrucis2]

I don't think Microsoft will drop support for Linux. If anything I think they'll slowly start bringing some of their programs to Linux; not anytime soon likely, but once Linux is more popular on the desktop they'll definitely do that.

Microsoft is a software company, they make software for more than just Windows. If the Linux desktop becomes more popular they'll eventually make software for it.

Also, I've heard Microsoft has actually contributed code to the Linux kernel (I think it was all driver support). I've also heard they were one of the biggest contributes.
(this was on one of the videos on the Linux Foundation's website; I forget which video however but if I come across it I'll link it)

They contributed only one thing. Namely the hyperV driver. They show up as a large contributor because there was a lot of lines of code and individual commits in that. However the volume will die down to fixes and enhancements. They did that because there was a good commercial case for doing it. It's quite likely they would port desktop software if they thought there was a buck to be made, just as they do for OSX


Edit. Reading a wiki article on it. There is a claim that it was more for legal reasons.


In July 2009 Microsoft submitted Hyper-V drivers to the kernel, which improve the performance of virtual Linux guest systems in a Windows hosted environment. Microsoft was forced to submit the code when it was discovered that Microsoft had incorporated a Hyper-V network driver with GPL-licensed components statically linked to closed-source binaries. Hyper-V provides basic virtualization support for Linux guests out of the box. Paravirtualization support is, however, available by installing the Linux Integration Components or Satori InputVSC drivers. On July 20, 2009, Microsoft submitted these drivers for inclusion in the Linux kernel under the terms of the GPL,[27] so that kernels from 2.6.32 may include inbuilt Hyper-V paravirtualization support.

[Paqman]

Ya never know. I was under the impression that Linux is gaining a (relatively) large market share in developing nations due to it's price.


Not really. Pirated Windows is ubiquitous in developing nations, so Linux isn't really any cheaper.

[HermanAB]

Not really. Pirated Windows is ubiquitous in developing nations, so Linux isn't really any cheaper.

Linux is very popular in certain countries and is dominant in the Spanish and Portuguese parts of the world. It is also popular in Slavic nations. MS support for certain language groups varies from bad to non-existent. Linux fills that gap.

[Paqman]

Linux is very popular in certain countries and is dominant in the Spanish and Portuguese parts of the world. It is also popular in Slavic nations. MS support for certain language groups varies from bad to non-existent. Linux fills that gap.

Define: "popular".

I know there are some pushes from various local and national governments in parts of South America, but from what I've seen the numbers are quite low overall. I've not seen anything that suggests widespread use in Eastern Europe, most folks I've spoken too from that end of Europe say it's wall-to-wall Windows.

I would be as pleased as anyone else here if Linux started to gain popularity with the masses, but there still ain't no sign of it happening AFAIK.

[Tibuda]

Linux is very popular in certain countries and is dominant in the Spanish and Portuguese parts of the world. It is also popular in Slavic nations. MS support for certain language groups varies from bad to non-existent. Linux fills that gap.

Linux is surely not dominant in Portuguese-speaking parts of the world.

[georgelappies]

Yeah, being from a developing part of the world. Actually the country where the term "Ubuntu" originates from, it is sad to note that the majority (95 percent at least) of people having access to computers either at work or at home have no idea what Linux or Ubuntu is :(

Seeing that it is still a bandwidth deprived country as well it is actually much easier getting a copied version of windows as compared to being able to download and install the latest version of Ubuntu.

The town I live in doesn't have any spare xDSL infrastructure available. I have been waiting for 2 years now to get a line with still no success. This leaves me with the only option of connecting to the internet via HSDPA mobile broadband technology. If you download the ubuntu install image using this method it is actually more expensive compared to windows 7 starter edition...

Considering you need to then download a lot of extra codecs and plugins to have a functioning desktop running and experimenting with linux becomes an very expensive hobby.

[Randymanme]

Posted by samzenpus (samzenpus@slashdot.org) on Thursday May 03, @07:48PM
from the strange-bedfellows dept.


An anonymous reader writes "A security researcher believes that Microsoft has overhauled Skype, with thousands of Linux boxes serving as the 'supernodes' (http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/skype-replaces-p2p-supernodes-with-linux-boxes-hosted-by-microsoft.ars) that route calls between users of the voice-over-IP service. Kostya Kortchinsky of Immunity Security 'discovered the Linux supernodes using a Skype probing technique he and colleague Fabrice Desclaux first demonstrated in 2006,' according to Ars Technica. The drastic infrastructure change doesn't affect the peer-to-peer nature of the calls between Skype users."



http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/05/03/2225234/microsoft-using-linux-to-optimize-skype-traffic?sdsrc=popbyskid

[MadmanRB]

Makes sense, a lot of servers run on linux.
Microsoft cannot escape that part

[sffvba[e0rt]

Threads merged.


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