Partner with Microsoft; Get a Gold Star

khess 0 309 Views

This is what we're going to see for the next year or two: Strategic Partnerships. A couple of days ago, Red Hat signed one of these partnership deals with Microsoft in what I call "A deal with the devil." Microsoft and Red Hat have slung mud, insults and accusations at each other for years and now they're smoking the Peace Pipe?

Oh what troubled times are these!

Here's the deal summary:

Microsoft will offer customer support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 and 5.3 guests on all editions of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008. For its part, Red Hat will support customers running Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows 2000 Server SP4 and Windows Server 2008 guests on Red Hat Enterprise virtualization technologies.

The companies also will offer cooperative technical support for customers running Windows Server on Red Hat Enterprise virtualization and Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Future versions of these products also will be validated under the company's agreement.

This is one for the "I don't get it" category, which is my reaction to most of these strategic partnership deals--especially ones struck between Linux companies and Microsoft.

Here's my problem with it:

If Microsoft has a customer that is running Linux (Pick any flavor) and Hyper-V, wouldn't they support that customer anyway? They are a customer using Hyper-V after all. The same goes for Red Hat. If someone is a Red Hat customer, would they do the same?
I'm not sure that either Microsoft or Red Hat will benefit one bit from this partnership. I hope Red Hat isn't paying any money for this "deal" and, supposedly, they aren't.

Many compare this deal to the one struck between Microsoft and Novell where there was an exchange of money and intellectual property. Industry watchers and critics, myself included, continually throw stones at that deal.

I think that in tough economic times companies beat their swords into plowshares to ensure survival. I also don't think it's necessary. Competition stimulates business by promoting innovation, creative pricing and raising the level of customer service. Deals like this, in my opinion, are like pouring water on wood before trying to start a fire.

Good luck Red Hat, we'll be watching.

Dani AI

Generated

A short, factual primer and practical take on the Microsoft–Red Hat virtualization announcements you’re discussing: Microsoft and Red Hat announced reciprocal validation and cooperative technical support in February 2009 (Microsoft’s virtualization blog, Mike Neil), with the goal of making mixed Windows and RHEL virtualized deployments easier to run and to support. ()

Concrete details matter here. Microsoft committed to support Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 and 5.3 guests on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Hyper-V Server 2008; Red Hat committed to support Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows 2000 Server SP4 and Windows Server 2008 guests on Red Hat virtualization. The vendors completed broader certifications later in 2009 (Red Hat’s Oct 7, 2009 announcement lists validated RHEL/Hyper-V combinations and expanded interoperability). ()

That explains why the deal is not the same animal as the Microsoft–Novell pact: the 2009 arrangement focused on testing, validation and coordinated support (call either vendor if you have a valid support contract; they’ll work together), and explicitly did not transfer patents or include IP licensing terms. By contrast, the Microsoft–Novell collaboration announced in November 2006 included patent covenants and financial terms. ()

Practical takeaway for sysadmins and buyers (addressing ’s skepticism and echoing ’s engagement): this kind of agreement reduces finger-pointing risk only if contracts and certified configurations are checked up front. Verify your exact OS/hypervisor versions against vendor certification lists, confirm support levels on each vendor’s contract, and stage the mix in a lab before production. If those steps are followed, interoperability/support frameworks like this can be useful — even if they look odd politically. ()

Member Avatar for offthelorry
offthelorry 0 Newbie Poster

i have read your all information and i like your opinion i get more knowledge to your opinion
<snip>

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.

Edit Preview