# To what extent, if at all, is Microsoft a stakeholder in \*nix **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962 "2010-06-29T18:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962/1 "2010-06-29T18:50:03Z")
As far as it is possible to tell, without espionage, does Microsoft: -run any Linux/Unix/BSD servers (in a production environment)? -develop, market or support any software products for the above OSes? -contribute to any open source projects that target the above OSes? (Excluding OSX, that is - which I understand is based on BSD) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962/2 "2010-06-29T19:06:14Z")
Not that I have ever seen or been aware of, having been in the Office Dev group in one form or another since since 1992. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962/3 "2010-06-29T19:28:45Z")
They used to license [Xenix](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962/4 "2010-06-29T19:30:02Z")
Microsoft originally developed Xenix which was their version of Unix. They eventually sold it of to SCO but retained some financial interest in it. I’m not sure if they still have any financial ties to it or not. Microsoft was still using Xenix for some internal development many years ago. I’m not sure if anything from this has survived to the present day but I am guessing probably not. Microsoft often gobbles up other companies, and they get whatever comes with those other companies. For example, when they bought Hotmail it was running some variant of Unix (I don’t remember which one). Microsoft went to great expense to convert all of Hotmail over to Windows Server instead of Unix so now Hotmail is running Windows. Along similar lines, Microsoft bought Fast Search and Transfer a couple of years ago, which had Windows and Linux/Unix versions. Microsoft has continued to support the Linux/Unix versions but fairly recently announced that they would be dropping them soon. Microsoft also makes Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX, which is basically a Unix subsystem for Windows. The main purpose of this is to allow Unix programs to be more easily ported to a Windows environment. There are probably a lot of other things that I am not aware of. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962/5 "2010-06-29T19:32:48Z")
You may find this interesting too: > [@](#): > > Microsoft has released enhancements to the Hyper-V Linux Integration Services that the company contributed to the Linux community in 2009. > > In a move many compared to seeing pigs fly, “Microsoft submitted source code for the Hyper-V Linux Integration Services to the Linux Kernel Community last July to provide the integration that customers were looking for with Hyper-V,” Brett Shoemaker of Microsoft wrote in a Port 25 blog post March 31. “The Integration Services (ISs) are now part of the Linux kernel (as of 2.6.32).” Shoemaker also said: Rest of article here: [http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Microsoft-Updates-Linux-Code-741438/](http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Microsoft-Updates-Linux-Code-741438/) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-extent-if-at-all-is-microsoft-a-stakeholder-in-nix/544962/6 "2010-06-29T20:38:21Z")
Damn. Forgot about Xenix.