Bill Hilf 是微軟平台技術戰略的負責人，他的工作重心有兩塊： 首先，讓 Windows 能更好地與 Linux 協同工作；其次，通過研究和學習最終達到戰勝這個開源對手的目的。
當然，Bill 本人對此的诠釋要藝術生動的多。
本周，LinuxWorld 大會正在舊金山舉行，Bill 與會並接受了媒體專訪，他這樣描繪他在微軟的生活：“我猶如活在陰陽兩個不同的世界。即要研究對手的一舉一動，又要抽身打理諸如產品間的配合啦、互換性及發展時機等等。 兩個重心可謂是一半一半，不偏不倚。”
微軟內部的 Linux 及開源軟件實驗室（Linux and Open Source Software Lab）即要負責審查被公布的微軟產品的安全缺陷，又要擔當通過對微軟及其它第三方產品進行測試，促使雙方彼此兼容的任務。該實驗室內架設數百台服務器和工作站，上面跑著各式各樣的 Linux 和 Unix 系統。
該實驗室所分飾的雙重角色折衷體現出微軟處理 Linux 及開源軟件事務上的思維定式。
在微軟看來，Linux 仍然是不可忽視的對手，必須鄭重對待，予以迎頭痛擊。微軟為此花費了大量的時間和金錢，一個很好的證明就是，微軟積極推行反 Linux 的“了解真相（Get the Facts）”活動。
但同時，微軟似乎也別無選擇地接受了 Linux 是揮之不去的這個事實，微軟也意識到，如果不能充分正視這個強大的對手，那客戶就有棄己而他投的可能，從而有商機丟失殆盡的危險。
Hilf 加盟微軟轉眼已有兩年的光景，此前他曾是大公司的 Linux 和 Unix 管理員，他為像 IBM 這樣名聲顯赫的公司服務過，也替網上玩具零售店 eToys 建立過 Linux 數據中心。
Hilf 透露他一加入微軟，便與微軟的開發者們展開了對話。
他回憶道：“起初，他們紛紛向我展示，Linux/Unix 世界的所作所為，是如何也能在 Windows 上實現的。” 在 Hilf 為微軟建立起這個 Linux 實驗室之前，微軟主要通過公司編外的技術顧問了解那個非 Windows 的世界是怎樣的。
危機意識
近來，伴隨著自身的發展，微軟開始意識到開源軟件的重要性。 華盛頓州 Redmond 市的軟件巨人認識到，通過一些輔助管理工具及虛擬機技術，能更好地提供與 Linux 的互操作性，反過來可以極大地推動自身 Windows 產品的發展。
Hilf 說：“微軟是一家非常善於捕捉機會的公司。它會不斷地尋找新的途徑以擴大商機。我們會不停地制造深受大眾歡迎的軟件產品。”
在微軟 Redmond 總部和同事聊天時，Hilf 說自己幾乎成了 Linux 用戶的代言人。
他說：“微軟開發人員總是跑來問我，‘喂，Bill，你覺得 Linux 用戶會喜歡這個嗎？’，或者‘你覺得這個是不是有點愚？’”
Hilf 有能力集 Windows 和 Linux 兩家之長，這也讓他深受微軟客戶的喜愛。 客戶們常向他征求意見，詢問如何能讓 Windows 和 Linux 共存。 Hilf 說：“許多客戶都表示他們混合使用 Windows 和 Linux，希望我們能如何這樣如何那樣的。”
對 Hilf 而言，在 Redmond 總部這般純粹 Windows 的環境裡，要建立一個 Linux/Unix 世界，本來就是極富挑戰性的事情。
他的宏圖大略始於建立運行不同系統的服務器機房，這些機器運行各種流行的 Linux 系統，其中也有來自 Sun、IBM、HP 和 Apple 等公司的商業 Unix 系統。其目的，就是要建立起比任何客戶都要大型和復雜的混合系統。
他指出：“沒有人會在 200 台服務器上跑 40 個不同版本的 Linux 系統，那可真不是明智之舉。”
但想要通過微軟的采購渠道，哪怕是添置一台 Linux 服務器都是困難重重的，更不要說建立 Linux/Unix 實驗室所需的其它非微軟產品了。
Hilf 說：“我所需要的一半產品都無法通過我們自己的正常采購渠道獲得。”
他只能坐下來，和微軟內部 IT 人員仔細解釋 Linux 實驗室的具體需求。他發現自己簡直是雞同鴨講，那些伙計對微軟產品的測試平台了如指掌，但對競爭對手的產品一無所知。
微軟技術總監（CIO）Ron Markezich 在去年 12 月接受 CNET news.com 的采訪時，曾表示：“微軟的公司制度是，不得使用與微軟競爭的任何產品。我的目標就是要確保微軟的產品是世界上最好的。因此，對我而言，選用微軟自己的產品是當然之舉。 我們從不運行 Unix，也不用 Linux，更不用 Oracle， 我們用的是百分之一百的 Windows、SQL 服務器。”
有了這番論調，Hilf 的請求會小小挫折一下，也就不足為奇了。
Hilf 最後回憶道：“在經過多次協商後，他們最後說‘好吧，我們會讓你如願以償的，但往後的事，就只能靠你自己了，你只須遵守我們的安全策略，其它一切隨你的便。’”
黑白世界
在 Linux 實驗室中，Hilf 終於能建立起自己的網絡系統，但接收 email，使用即時通訊軟件（instant messaging，IM）都遇到不小的挑戰，有時連浏覽網頁都成問題。
Hilf 說：“在微軟 IT 環境的重重包圍之中，我們居然建立起龐大的混合系統。”
在調和 Windows 和 Linux 這兩大系統的過程中，Hilf 不斷被產品缺陷所困擾，這些問題有屬於微軟的，也有開源軟件或其它第3方軟件的錯誤。
Hilf 舉了一個即時通訊（IM）軟件問題的例子。Gaim 是一個開源的 IM 客戶軟件，這個軟件最初不支持 HTTP 協議，而這是 Hilf 當時所唯一能使用的技術。於是 Hilf 召集開源軟件開發人員趕制了一個補丁。他向 Gaim 提交了這個開源補丁，Gaim 社區也接納了他的建議。
Hilf 高興地表示：“現在我們和其它 Gaim 使用者一樣，都能使用這個功能了。”
如果問題出在微軟產品當中，Hilf 會立刻知會微軟產品開發小組。
現在，Hilf 所作的不僅僅是向微軟產品開發小組提交錯誤報告。他目前的工作有相當一部分是圍繞微軟明年推出 Windows Server 2003 R2 而進行的。目前 Windows 系統中包含許多 Unix 服務工具，在即將到來的R2升級版中，包含大量這些軟件的最新版本或升級補丁。
Hilf 指出：“我們目前正展開全面系統測試，測試平台有 AIX、Solaris、HP-UX、無數的 Linux 版本，甚至是 Mac OS X 系統，所有一切就是為了確保 R2 能和這些系統水乳交融。”
作為一名 Unix 老兵，Hilf 相信他正協助微軟創造未來的 Windows 系統，明日的系統要遠勝於今日的 Windows 和 Linux 系統。
他總結：“歸根到底，我們是為了商機無限才這麼作的。 我的存在是公司商業思維的考量結果，即不是為了所謂的面子工程，也不是為了向對手拋橄榄枝（施加善意）的。”
At Microsoft, the yin and yang of Linux
August 12, 2005
Ina Fried， Staff Writer, CNET News.com
As Microsoft's director of platform technology strategy, Bill Hilf spends half his time trying to figure out ways Windows can work better with Linux and the other half trying to outflank the open-source rival.
Of course, he doesn't describe it quite that starkly.
"My life is like a yin and a yang," he said in an interview at this week's LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. "There is just as much time thinking about the competitive...as there is about the cooperation/interoperability/opportunity. It's equal time."
MicrosoftMicrosoft's Linux and Open Source Software Lab serves as both a place to examine the threat posed to Microsoft products by open-source offerings and a venue for testing software from Microsoft and others that's designed to span that divide. The lab is home to hundreds of servers and desktops that run dozens of different types of Linux and Unix.
The lab's dual purpose reflects an evolution in Microsoft's mindset when it comes to Linux and open-source software.
Linux is still seen as a competitor that needs to be addressed head-on. The company spends plenty of time and money on its anti-Linux "Get the Facts" campaign, for example.
At the same time, though, Microsoft seems to have accepted that Linux is not going away, and the company wants to make sure it's not turning off customers--or leaving dollars on the table--by ignoring its very real rival.
It's been almost two years since Hilf joined Microsoft after a career managing Linux and Unix for corporations, a tour of duty that included a stint at IBM and the building of a Linux-based data center for dot-com retailer eToys.
Hilf said his conversations with Microsoft developers have evolved since he first joined the company.
"Originally there was a lot of 'tell me how this works versus my thing,'" he recalled. Until Hilf arrived and set up shop, Microsoft relied mainly on outside consultants to provide reports on how the other half lived.
Shrewder
These days, Microsoft is growing shrewder about open-source software. The Redmond, Wash., company has realized that some of its businesses--such as the management tools and Virtual Server units--can boost their bottom line by offering better Linux interoperability.
"Microsoft is a very opportunistic company," Hilf said. "It is looking for ways to increase its business. We want to continue to build software that sells well."
Hilf said that on the Redmond campus, in discussions with colleagues, he often finds himself acting as a proxy for a customer who runs Linux.
"They will come to me saying 'Hey, Bill, is this something you think Linux customers would really be interested in, or is this stupid?" Hilf said.
Hilf's ability to straddle the divide between the Windows and Linux worlds also makes him popular with Microsoft customers, who ask him for advice on getting the two to work together. "A lot of customers say, 'I have mixed stuff too; you must have figured out how to do blah, blah, blah,'" Hilf said.
Even setting up shop amid Redmond's all-Windows world was a challenge for Hilf.
He started with the ambitious goal of creating a server room with dozens of flavors of Linux, along with commercial Unix software from Sun Microsystems, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer. The goal, he said, was to have something "more mixed then any real, sane customer would have."
"No customer runs 40 different versions of Linux on 200 servers," he said. "It's silly."
But getting even one Linux machine via Microsoft's purchasing arm proved to be a challenge. Ditto for the other types of non-Microsoft gear he needed to set up the center.
"Half the stuff I needed to buy I couldn't even buy through our normal processes," Hilf said.
He sat down with Microsoft's internal IT folks to explain the Linux lab's needs. He found himself speaking a foreign tongue to a shop that acts as a test bed for Microsoft software but has little experience with rival products.
"As a policy, I don't run anything that competes with Microsoft," Microsoft CIO Ron Markezich said in a December interview with CNET News.com. "My goal is to make sure Microsoft products are the best products in the world. It's an easy choice for me, in that sense, to run Microsoft technology. We don't run Unix. We don't run Linux. We don't run Oracle. We're 100 percent Windows, SQL Server."
Not surprisingly, Markezich's underlings were a little stymied by Hilf's requests.
"After a lot of discussion, they said: 'We're going to put a piece of fiber through the wall. What you do from there is up to you. Just make sure you follow our security guidelines,'" Hilf recalled.
Inside the egg
Though the Linux lab chief was able to set up his own networking layers, it was a challenge to get access to things like e-mail and instant messaging. Even browsing the Internet was hard.
"We are this hugely mixed environment inside the egg of a totally Microsoft IT environment," Hilf said.
More than once, Hilf was thwarted by bugs--glitches in Microsoft software, glitches in open-source products and even in third-party software designed to help the two technologies talk to each other.
One example, Hilf said, was on the instant-messaging side. There was an IM client called Gaim that allowed connectivity to MSN instant messaging, but the program was not able to use the HTTP protocol, the only technology means available to Hilf. So he set his team of open-source software experts to write the needed patch. He submitted it to the open-source group that oversees Gaim's development and the changes were accepted.
"Now we can use it, and so can everyone else who uses Gaim," Hilf said.
In other cases, the glitches were on the Microsoft end, and Hilf said he let the Microsoft product teams know about them.
These days, Hilf is able to do more than just pass bug reports along to the Microsoft product teams. One big area of work focuses on the "R2" update to Windows Server 2003 that Microsoft plans for later this year. The update will include an overhaul of the current "Services For Unix" tools that currently ship with Windows.
"We're right now running a whole battery of tests across AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, tons and tons of Linux, even Mac OS X, making sure that (R2) really holds water," Hilf said.
As a lifetime Unix guy, Hilf believes he is helping Microsoft to help make Windows a better option for companies than either Windows or Linux are today.
"At the end of the day, we're in it for business reasons," he said. "I exist for business reasons. I do not exist as a PR stunt or as sort of an olive branch."－asap tr.
原文出處：DoNews.com