Red Hat Enters Virtualization Support Agreement with Microsoft
U.S. Linux vendor Red Hat has entered a cooperation agreement with Microsoft in technical support of server virtualization.
Customers running Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualization now have joint technical support from the two companies. Red Hat has committed to participate in Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program. Reciprocally, Microsoft has joined Red Hat's Virtualization Certification Program and will be listed on the Red Hat Certification List once Microsoft completes the certification process.
The newly formed partners emphasize that the arrangement is in no way like Microsoft's partnering with Novell. The Microsoft-Novell deal goes much deeper and involves technical collaboration, licensing and patent protection.
For Microsoft, Red Hat still remains a competing platform provider despite the support arrangement. In fact, Microsoft's GM of virtualization Mike Neil emphasizes that "these agreements do not include any patent or other IP licensing rights." Both companies also assure customers that their cooperation has no effect on their previous agreements with virtualization specialist VMware.
As a first step, the two companies will enter each other's validation phases, results of which will be posted to their respective websites during the course of the year, for Red Hat and Microsoft.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.
-
LibreOffice 25.2 Has Arrived
If you've been hoping for a release that offers more UI customizations, you're in for a treat.
-
TuxCare Has a Big AlmaLinux 9 Announcement in Store
TuxCare announced it has successfully completed a Security Technical Implementation Guide for AlmaLinux OS 9.