x #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">

On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 11=
:22:07AM -0400, Paul Robert Marino wrote:

> Recently a vendor who makes Linux appliances who was trying to sell th=
em to

> my company told me something shocking and whats even more shocking is =
its

> true.

> First some background for the last couple of years Ive been working on=
a

> pure Perl API for CIM (Common Information Model ) an old but very usef=
ul

> standard written by the DMTF that in many ways makes SNMP look like a<=
br>
> ridiculous relic. CIM is the parent protocol for a lot of other

> standardized protocols for managing and monitoring systems, virtual>
> machines, storage infrastructures, etc. Some of the most common

> implementations of it are SBLIM on GNU Linux, SMI-S on storage devices=
, the

> VMware vSphere APIs, Dell OpenManage, HP System Insight Manager, WMI o=
n

> Windows, and many more.

>

> Now to the point. Well it seams Microsoft decided to drop a new bomb I=
've

> never seen from them before. Microsoft wrote a new WBEM (Web Based

> Enterprise Management) server for Windows Server 2012 which is the ser=
ver

> side component of the CIM standard to serve up WMI. the shocking part =
is

> they made it so it compiles under Linux and Unix and released the code=


> under the Apache 2 license.

>

This is an aweful long diatribe to get to a point :)



Its a lot of initials as well. =A0I'll never be hired in IT again becau=
se

of the accronyms.

> No this is not a joke its real, Microsoft is releasing open source sof=
tware!

> /open-management-infrastructure.aspx" target=3D"_blank">http://blogs.techne=
t.com/b/windowsserver/archive/2012/06/28/open-management-infrastructure.asp=
x


>

> Ive been speculating for a few years now that they might start doing t=
his

> based on the fact that they let the Samba core developers see the wind=
ows

> source code and all of their patents after the samba developers signin=
g

> NDA's (Non Disclosure Agreement) and they did a similar thing with=


> Microsoft Exchange and the core developers of Open Change (Open Change=
is

> an open source clone of =A0Microsoft Exchange which is still not compl=
ete yet

> but its getting there).

I think they precieve this as the last battle in a forgotten war whic=
h

they have no desire to invest resources in. =A0I think everyone believes>
the general PC to be dead, and it is very disconcerting and weird.

> =A0Still this is shocking and is going to

> significantly change the software and OS landscape, but I'm honest=
ly just

> not sure how yet. Is It going to be a good thing , a bad thing ? I don=
't

> know! Now to be clear its open source not free speech software so they=
are

> still protecting their sales, but still its unprecedented for Microsof=
t,

> the company whos co-founder (You know the one) came up with the concep=
t of

> software licenses in the first place to prevent users from sharing sof=
tware

> _01/gatesletter.html" target=3D"_blank">http://www.digibarn.com/collections=
/newsletters/homebrew/V2_01/gatesletter.html.

>

>

> The only thing I can think of that could explain this a large squadren=
of

> pigs flew into Hell and bomed it with liquid nitrogen till it froze.r>