Microsoft is hard at work building a new perspective over the relationship between its proprietary platform and the open source operating system. Windows vs. Linux is a concept that is slowly becoming blurred and melting away, leaving room to something more in the line of Windows and Linux based on a bridge of interoperability. Sam Ramji, Director of the Microsoft Open Source Software Lab emphasized the need for Linux and Windows interoperability spanning from the hardware all the way to the implementation of specifications, at OSCON in Portland and at LinuxWorld in San Francisco.

"Overall our focus is on three critical technology areas for the next-generation datacenter: virtualization, systems management, and identity. Identity in particular spans enterprise datacenters and web user experiences, so it’s critical that everyone shares a strong commitment to cross-platform cooperation," Ramji revealed, explaining that interoperability is a trend fueled by the evolution of the market for heterogeneous solutions. "One visible sign of this is virtualization, an "indicator technology," which by its nature promotes heterogeneity. Virtualization has become one of the most important trends in the computing industry today."

Virtualization is undoubtedly a technology that will grow to become ubiquitous with a spending estimated to reach in excess of $15B worldwide by 2009 while virtualization-enabled processors will be integrated into half of all servers by the same time. Ramji also underscored the industry's tendency to migrate from UNIX to Windows and Linux. But "and" is the key word here, coming with the increasing need for Windows-Linux interoperable and heterogeneous solutions. Currently, Microsoft is focused on a variety of aspects associated with interoperability.

For the immediate future, the Redmond company is hammering away at Virtualization and Web Services protocols. The best examples of virtualization interoperability involve the work being done to bridge the gap between Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server virtualization, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Xen. A structure of common standards specifications and protocol interoperability has to be at the basis of every heterogeneous environment.

"These are the key components required for the next-generation datacenter. We know the datacenters of today are mixtures of Windows, Linux, and Unix, x86, x64 and RISC architectures, and a range of storage and networking gear. Virtualization is required to enable server consolidation and dynamic IT; it must be cross-platform. Once applications from multiple platforms are running on a single server, they need to be managed – ideally from a single console. Finally, they must still meet the demands of security and auditability, so regardless of OS they must be accessible by the right users at the right levels of privilege. Hence, cross-platform virtualization demands cross-platform management and identity," Ramji added.