Given MS cut-throat history vs. linux, why do people still support them? (2011)

Sure, I'll bite:

- Because large companies have an easier time quantifying money spent towards a solution rather than time spent towards a solution, fiddling around with a non-corporate project getting whatever kernel/distro/library/framework to work as you need it to; open-source or not.

- Because outside of the West Coast America Tech. bubble, where time spent fighting with your computer late into a Sunday night is a badge of honor, most people just use computers to get shit done.

Some people forgets, other forgives, others were simply not there yet. Others don't care or are ok with it.

I do remember and I learned that the goals of any corporation are only occasionally and not intentionally aligned with mines so I use their services only when I really need them. I don't need Microsoft much but I had to give them money when I bought my new laptop years ago. Then I wiped it out and installed Ubuntu. It helped me not to forget.

What, Linux?

JK.

The short answer is the MS ecology is still powering a gigantic % of corporate servers for business technologies (email, file, database, active directory, and so on and a lot of the tech descendant from that).

To be more succinct to your question - for years there was nothing else (unless you want to count novell netware for some period, but it never covered the range of tech).

And quite frankly, until theres a really competent alternative to things like exchange (to my unending chagrin, this is still not the case even though this could change the face of desktop linux deployment), and really solid competition for the desktop apps and a universal replacement for things like group policy (I haven't researched where this is in linux in years, so forgive me if there is something good now) this will continue to be the case for a while.

And now, MS is embracing linux more wholeheartedly then I could have ever imagined in the past - but thats because it has to to survive, like every tech company out there. It really is no skin off their back to make tools and integration easier because it breaks down barriers to using their other software where appropriate instead of being shut out.

How many of these things came from their current CEO? Of course, many of the current executives were also from the war-on-linux days, so there is that to worry about.

But it is possible that Microsoft is transitioning to a services company, similar to the IBM transition a while back. In that case, if they are being friendly towards Linux, it may be useful to show them that this is the right move -- hence the current level of what seems like unreasonable support.

Because they really don't care what I run now, as long as I do it in their cloud.