The Linux Foundation has announced the joining of Microsoft as its latest member. Microsoft has also proposed to donate the source code of Windows 8 to the Linux Foundation. The company is also working with the Linux community to merge the Windows 8 kernel with the Linux mainline tree.

"Companies and organizations are coming to Linux from every industry and every region around the globe. The collective commitment to the platform is advancing Linux for a new generation of computing as we look towards the next 20 years," said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at The Linux Foundation. "We're very excited to welcome these leading companies to The Linux Foundation."

"Microsoft always believed in open source, we were just waiting for the market to mature and now Red Hat has opened the gates," said Steve Ballmer. "The real fight is not in holding the source code, the real fight is in the user-space, in reaching out to users. So, we are moving away from proprietary model and adopting Red Hat's subscription-based model. With $1.3 billion revenues, Red Hat has shown the potential of open source. We are great at doing what other competitors do."

Watch Steve Ballmer's statement on joining the Linux Foundation below.

Linus Torvalds posted on his Google +, "That's a stupid idea. We spent months and months in cleaning up the code implementing a driver for Hyper-V virtualization. Looking at that code, I think it will take us 5-6 years to clean up Windows 8 code to be able to merge with the mainline kernel."

When c2050 reporter asked about secure boot, Microsoft's spokesperson said, "We are working with OEMs to implement a switch in BIOS which will prompt user every time a user turns on the system to install any GNU/Linux based distribution on the system . The message will continue to appear unless it detects a GNU/Linux system on the machine."

"I think Microsoft changed their strategy after they noticed the increased contribution by Canonical, their competitor in the desktop space, to the Linux kernel. Canonical topped the contribution chart beating Red Hat and Novell.  Canonical submitted 76% changes to the Linux kernel in the last five months. Microsoft doesn't want Canonical to dominate the Linux kernel development," said Will Hill an independent analyst with IDP Research.

"We are also making our patents available under FRAND terms to all Android players," said Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property & Licensing.

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