Microsoft Looking To Add Windows Media Foundation Transforms "MFTs" To Mesa

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Microsoft Looking To Add Windows Media Foundation Transforms "MFTs" To Mesa

In addition to Microsoft enabling OpenGL 4.6 over Direct3D 12 via Mesa, Microsoft engineers have also been working on some video improvements within the Mesa code-base...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-Microsoft-MFTs-Prep

[timofonic]

They intentionally removed the Windows prefix...

[yoshi314]

so, we're at Extend stage , i guess?

[highball]

Windows userland for Linux is coming. Get ready.

[skeevy420]

so, we're at Extend stage , i guess?

Technically, yes. Extending all of Mesa to Embrace D3D12. I don't know who they're trying to Extinguish. Windows, perhaps?

highball Possibly, and I've always thought that it would be hilarious if that was Microsoft's endgame, but this primarily benefits a Linux userland on Windows in its current state. That's a double-edged sword and why I think Windows could be Extinguish. The better Microsoft makes Linux look and behave on Windows, the more people will want to just run Linux natively. Get enough people off of Windows and Micorsoft can drop the whole operating system money sink, switch to focusing primarily on the FOSS that they turn into a SAAS, and push their users onto some form of Linux, BSD, or even Haiku.

Just pointing out that it's Mesa, not Linux, that they're targeting here so any OS that has Mesa can be used with can also be used in an Exterminate Windows scenario.

[Vermilion]

The better Microsoft makes Linux look and behave on Windows, the more people will want to just run Linux natively.

Are you sure this is not backwards? The better Microsoft makes Linux tools run on Windows, the less reasons people will have to run Linux proper.

[ElectricPrism]

What is the motive of this? Can this be used for future DRM?

Seems like we've been getting by fine without them. Are they trying to offload tech debt that fucks us for a double whammy?

[zexelon]

Everyone is looking for the devil under the rock whenever Microsoft does something like this... to be honest, I am quite sure their strategy is far more bizarre we could even imagine.

Maybe they are very well prepping to replace NT with Linux in the long run? That would be really unique!

Apple of all groups showed that this sort of mega transition is very achievable when they went from MacOS Classic to OSX, completely rewriting the book on compatibility approaches. I think its crazy to think they may do something like this, but certainly not beyond all reason. Wine and Proton currently provide better software compatibility then modern windows versions in a lot of cases.

[Pajn]

Windows userland for Linux is coming. Get ready.

This is literally the exact opposite, GNU/Linux userland on Windows/NT

[Nocifer]

Technically, yes. Extending all of Mesa to Embrace D3D12. I don't know who they're trying to Extinguish. Windows, perhaps?

highball Possibly, and I've always thought that it would be hilarious if that was Microsoft's endgame, but this primarily benefits a Linux userland on Windows in its current state. That's a double-edged sword and why I think Windows could be Extinguish. The better Microsoft makes Linux look and behave on Windows, the more people will want to just run Linux natively. Get enough people off of Windows and Micorsoft can drop the whole operating system money sink, switch to focusing primarily on the FOSS that they turn into a SAAS, and push their users onto some form of Linux, BSD, or even Haiku.

Just pointing out that it's Mesa, not Linux, that they're targeting here so any OS that has Mesa can be used with can also be used in an Exterminate Windows scenario.

Embrace: Microsoft ❤️ Linux
Extend: Microsoft Looking To Add Windows Media Foundation Transforms "MFTs" To Mesa
Extinguish: Hey do you know, this new X gaming thingamajig works better if Mesa has MFTs enabled, and Mesa can only enable MFTs when running on WSL because it's a feature made by Microsoft specifically for WSL. Well, I guess I'd be better off installing Windows and enjoying the Linux experience at its best (aka, with MFTs enabled).

Microsoft's endgame will always be to extinguish its competition, and that would be true even if were talking about healthy competition between two business entities, and not about Microsoft.

Edit: Obviously, this is a hypothetical scenario based on the article's content; I don't even know what MFTs are. But I do know that Media Foundation as a framework is a very sore (patent-riddled) point for Wine/Proton, and I can very well imagine a future where a Linux-based Microsoft userland could be attached to a Windows core and offered as Microsoft's competitor to the likes of Valve's SteamOS, all the while offering complete support for MF-based media (and probably other stuff, like perfect out-of-the-box D3D12+ support).