I’m really not sure why everyone is so surprised that Microsoft submitted the driver source code for four Microsoft Hyper-V drivers for inclusion in the Linux kernel under the GPLv2 license. You see, Microsoft and Novell have been working on this for over two years now.
These drivers, jointly called the Linux Device Driver for Virtualization, when added to Linux, gives any distribution using them the ability to run on Windows Server 2008 and its Hyper-V hypervisor technology. Server-level virtualization doesn’t get people excited the way the desktop models, like Sun, now Oracle’s, VirtualBox, but it’s actually much more important for businesses. By enabling companies to run more than one server, or a mix of server operating systems, on one hardware platform you save both energy and hardware costs. So, for Novell and Microsoft, which with their partner Citrix is out to knock out VMware and Red Hat, making Hyper-V serve as a bridge between Linux and Windows Server 2008 is a major part of their fight plan.
