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微软在GPL许可证下发布了Hyper-V的Linux驱动，令开源社区感到意外，但最终它将无法被Linux kernel接纳 (全文...)

Microsoft has released 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community that is claimed to improve the performance of the Linux operating system when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V. The code includes three Linux device drivers, and has been submitted to the Linux kernel community for inclusion in the Linux tree. The drivers will be made available to the Linux community and customers.

The company has provided the code -- called LinuxIC -- under the GPL version 2 license. The intention is to improve interoperability between the Windows platform and open source technologies. The code has been provided by Microsoft's Open Source Technology Center (OSTC), which had been started for open source communities and companies interested in working with Microsoft, as well as a resource for Microsoft product groups interested in open source technology. According to Microsoft, the OSTC has technical expertise in Linux, UNIX and open source technologies, with connections in open source communities.

This move apparently comes as a result of feedback from Microsoft customers and open source partners who wanted to derive more value by deploying new open source software solutions on existing Microsoft platforms. This code will enable Linux to run as a virtual machine on top of Hyper-V -- Microsoft's hypervisor, an implementation of virtualization.
According to the company, without this driver code, Linux can run on top of Windows but without the same performance levels.

There seem to be multiple reasons for submitting GPL code to the Linux kernel community. Customers are increasingly consolidating servers and server resources. They are also looking to standardise on a single virtualization platform. The Linux device drivers will help customers consolidate their Linux instances on Windows servers, knowing that they will not experience a performance hit.

The OSTC has also been contributing to the PHP Engine, optimizing PHP 5.3 to perform better on Windows. There is also an ongoing participation in various Apache Software Foundation projects, improved interoperability with Axis2, provided support to the Firefox community to optimize Firefox for Windows Vista and Windows Media Player.