Microsoft Plans to Work

 
 
By Peter Galli  |  Posted 2005-11-17 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


with Novell in Future"> But Ryan Gavin, Microsofts Director of Platform Strategy, defended the need for the study, even if it was just a starting point. "There is a big need for a larger understanding of how we think and talk about reliability and to have a consistent dialogue about what things matter when you are talking about a reliable system," he said.

"One of the reasons we worked with Security Innovations is because they are more academic and research-oriented and we wanted a repeatable methodology that could be applied again and again," he said.
Gavin added that Thompson would also be reaching out to Novell in the future, given that the companys version of Linux was used in the study. He also said he would be asking Novell "for their validation, having them help review the model and provide input into how this could have been done differently or better. Ill also make the same offer to Red Hat and Im willing to fly their engineers to his lab to have them go through this and tell us ways we can do this better." Novells Barney said he was not sure if Thompson had contacted anyone in the company as yet, adding that the firm would have to think hard before jumping into the research business. "Thats what independent analysts do best, not software vendors," he said. This is not the first time Microsoft has asked members of the open-source community to work with it on independent research projects. Redmond officials suggested earlier this year that the OSDL (Open Source Development Labs) work with Microsoft on a research project, an idea that was rejected outright by OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen. Editors Note: This story was updated to expand on a comment by Kevan Barney. Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest open-source news, reviews and analysis.


 
 
 
 
Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.

He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.

He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.

He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.

He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.

He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.

His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.

For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.

 
 
 
 
 
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