Linux之父：不担心微软接管Linux

原文地址：https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-isnt-worried-about-microsoft-taking-over-linux/

 

And you shouldn't be either. Every company wants to rule Linux -- none of them can or ever will.
你也不应该这样。每一家公司都想统治Linux——没有一家公司能够,也永远不能够。

 

Every time I write a story about Microsoft and Linux, I can guarantee I'll be buried under such comments as "Microsoft is buying control of Linux!" or "Microsoft is just practicing it old embrace, extend, and extinguish tactics to destroy Linux" or "Microsoft is a wolf in sheep's clothing -- it will wreck Linux."

每次写关于微软和Linux的文章，我保证自己肯定会被“微软正在购买Linux的控制权！”或者“微软只是在实践它旧的思想、扩展和消灭摧毁Linux的策略”或者“微软是披着羊皮的狼——它将摧毁Linux。”这样的评论所淹没。

 

Here's the truth of the matter: Yes, Microsoft wants to profit from Linux. And, yes, Microsoft wants to extend and control Linux. Guess what? Everyone does, and none of them can.

事实是这样的：是的，微软想从linux中获利。并且，是的，微软想要扩展和控制Linux。想想实际上？每个人都想，但没有人能。

 

At the 2019 Linux Plumbers Conference, I talked to Linus Torvalds and several other of the Linux kernel's top programmers. They universally agreed Microsoft wants to control Linux, but they're not worried about it. That's because Linux, by its very nature and its GPL2 open-source licensing, can't be controlled by any single third-party.

在2019年的《Linux Plumbers Conference》会议上，我与Linus Torvalds及其他几个Linux内核顶级程序员进行交流。他们一致认为微软想要控制Linux，但他们并不担心。这是因为Linux的本质和GPL2开源许可证，无法由任何第三方控制。

 

Torvalds said:"The whole anti-Microsoft thing was sometimes funny as a joke, but not really. Today, they're actually much friendlier. I talk to Microsoft engineers at various conferences, and I feel like, yes, they have changed, and the engineers are happy. And they're like really happy working on Linux. So I completely dismissed all the anti-Microsoft stuff."

Torvalds说：“反微软的事情有时只是个笑话而有趣，但不是真实的。今天，实际上他们更加友好。我在各种会议上和微软的工程师们交谈沟通，我觉得，是的，他们已经改变了，工程师们很高兴。他们在Linux上工作真的很开心。所以我完全不理会所有反微软的东西。”

 

But that doesn't mean the Microsoft leopard can't change its spots. Sure, he hears, "This is the old Microsoft, and they're just biding their time." But, Torvalds said, "I don't think that's true. I mean, there will be tension. But that's true with any company that comes into Linux; they have their own objectives. And they want to do things their way because they have a reason for it." So, with Linux, "Microsoft tends to be mainly about Azure and doing all the stuff to make Linux work well for them," he explained.

但这并不意味着微软的leopard不能改变它身上的斑点。当然，他听到的是:“这是老微软，他们只是在等待时机。”但是，Torvalds说，“我不认为这是真的。我的意思是，会有紧张。但是对于任何进入Linux的公司来说都是如此;他们有自己的目标。他们想用自己的方式做事，因为他们有这样做的理由。”因此，对于Linux，“微软倾向于主要关注Azure，并做所有的事情来让Linux更好地为他们工作，”他解释道。

 

Torvalds emphasized this is normal: "I mean, that's just being part of the community."

Torvalds强调这很正常：“我是说，这只是社区的一部分。”

 

As Eric Raymond pointed out in his seminal open-source work, The Cathedral and the Bazaar: "Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch."

正如Eric Raymond在其开创性的开源作品《教堂与集市》中所指出的：“软件的每一个好的工作都是从挠开发人员的痒开始的。”

 

 

And, these days, a great deal of Linux work starts by scratching a company's itch.

而且，现在，很多linux工作都是从挠公司的痒开始的。

 

In the most recent 2017 State of Linux Kernel Development report, those companies are, in order: Intel, Red Hat, Linaro, IBM. Samsung, SUSE, and Google. Each has its own itch and each tries to scratch it as well as they can. While some unpaid volunteers -- 8.2 percent in 2017 -- work on Linux, the kernel is largely the work of developers working for corporations.

在最近的2017年Linux内核开发报告中，这些公司依次是：英特尔、红帽、Linaro、IBM。三星、苏西和谷歌。每个人都有自己的瘙痒，每个人都会尽力去抓。虽然一些无偿的志愿者（2017年为8.2%）在Linux上工作，但内核主要是为公司工作的开发人员的工作。

 

Besides the proof of Microsoft working on the code, Torvald thinks it's interesting "how Microsoft went from basically extorting licensing for FAT (patents) from Android vendors to now making all the patents available. It really isn't just nice. It's real action. I'm pretty happy."

除了微软正在开发代码的证据，托瓦尔德认为很有趣的是“微软从基本上敲诈安卓厂商的fat（专利）许可到现在让所有的专利都可用。这真的不只是好。这是真正的行动。我很高兴。”

 

James Bottomley, an IBM Research Distinguished Engineer and top Linux kernel developer, sees Microsoft as going through the same process as all other corporate Linux supporters:

IBM Research杰出工程师、顶级Linux内核开发人员James Bottomley认为，微软正在经历与所有其他公司Linux支持者相同的过程：

 

"This is a thread that runs through Linux. You can't work on the kernel to your own proprietary advantage. A lot of companies, as they came in with the proprietary business mode,l assumed they could. They have to be persuaded that, if you want something in Linux, that will assist your business -- absolutely fine. But it has to go through an open development process. And if someone else finds it useful, you end up cooperating or collaborating with them to produce this feature."

“这是一个贯穿Linux的线程。你不能为了自己的专有优势而在内核上工作。很多公司，当他们进入私有商业模式时，我想他们可以。他们必须被说服，如果你想在Linux上做点什么，那将有助于你的业务——绝对没问题。但它必须经历一个开放的发展过程。如果其他人发现它很有用，您最终会与他们合作或协作来生成此功能。”

That means, to get things done, even Microsoft is "eventually forced to collaborate with others.".

这意味着，为了完成任务，即使是微软也“最终被迫与他人合作”。

 

Bottomley explained:"So a lot of what you see at the top, and what comes out of the Linux Foundation, is driven by the larger companies. And they're always fighting over, you know, who gets what feature and how it's done. But it's never been any different from the fact that development has to be done in the open. If somebody else finds a benefit, you end up collaborating."

Bottomley解释道：“所以你在上面看到的很多东西，以及Linux基金会产生的东西，都是由大公司驱动的。他们总是在争论，你知道，谁得到了什么功能，以及如何完成。但这与开发必须在公开的环境下进行的事实从来没有什么不同。如果其他人发现了好处，你最终会合作。”

 

Bottomley concluded: "So it doesn't matter if Microsoft has a competing agenda to Red Hat or IBM or anybody else. Developers are still expected to work together in the Linux kernel with a transparent agenda." In short, Microsoft may be big, but no one is bigger than the entire Linux community.

Bottomley总结道：“所以微软与红帽、IBM或其他任何公司是否有竞争的议程并不重要。开发人员仍然希望在Linux内核中以透明的方式合作，“简而言之，微软可能很大，但没有比整个Linux社区更大。

 

Besides, as the Linux stable branch maintainer, Greg Kroah-Hartman, told Swapnil Bhartiya, in an interview:

"The Linux kernel development process is not about who you work for, it's about individuals. It's funny, KY [Srinivasan], head of Microsoft's open-source group, came from Novell, and before that, he was an ex-AT&T engineer. And he's a solid engineering manager who's been involved in Linux for 20 years."

此外，作为Linux稳定分支维护者，Greg Kroah Hartman在接受Swapnil Bhartiya采访时说：

“Linux内核开发过程不是为谁工作，而是为自己工作。有趣的是，微软开源团队的负责人KY [Srinivasan],来自Novell，在此之前，他曾是AT&T的工程师。他是一位优秀的工程经理，在Linux领域工作了20年。

 

No one doubts that he's working for Linux's benefit.

没有人怀疑他是为linux而工作。

 

Also, Microsoft is a Linux company now. Kroah-Hartman continued: "Over 50% of their Azure workloads are Linux now. It's amazingly huge." He said Microsoft now has a Linux distribution, just like Amazon with AWS, which is a Linux distribution, and Oracle.

另外，微软现在是一家Linux公司。Kroah-Hartman继续道：“现在Azure 50%的工作负载都是运行在linux上，这是非常阹的”。他说，微软现在有一个Linux发行版，就像Amazon有一个Linux发行版AWS，Oracle同样如此。

 

Heck, you could even argue, thanks to Windows Subsystem for Linux 2.0, a Linux distro that runs on Windows 10, that Microsoft might be the largest Linux distributor.

Windows发布了Windows Subsystem for Linux 2.0，一个运行在Windows 10上的Linux发行版

 

None of these Linux leaders, or anyone else I talked to at Plumbers, were the least bit worried about Microsoft taking over Linux. It's the other way around. Linux is now the driving force for almost all technology companies -- and that includes Microsoft.

这些Linux Leaders，或者我在LPC上遇到的，都丝毫不担心微软会接管Linux。正好相反。Linux现在是几乎所有科技公司的驱动力，微软也不例外。