ZDNet UK: Microsoft tries to cut Windows off from Unix servers

"Fear of Linux and an attempt to use its desktop muscle to protect Windows server sales may be behind Microsoft's apparently confused strategy over the CIFS protocol, according to Jeremy Allison, co-author of the widely used Samba open-source code, which uses the protocol to link Windows clients to Unix and Linux servers.

Allison's statements add to outspoken criticism that has already been aimed at Microsoft by Network Appliance. NetApp has publicly accused Microsoft of "violence" and of seeming to be "motivated by paranoia and greed" in its decisions to drop support for CIFS in key applications such as Exchange.

He told ComputerWire last week: "Microsoft is about control. When you lose control of something, you might as well end it and start over again by putting your development efforts into something new." Microsoft's ambiguous stance on the issue may be the result of infighting on the Redmond campus, he added."

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