Microsoft Publishes exFAT Specification, Encourages Linux Support

[Delgarde]

Ok, if hypothetically Microsoft fired the EEE CEO, and replaced him with a CEO that is actively trying to engage with the open source community, how many years would it take for there to not be a dozen "It must be EEE somehow" posts on here every time they attempt to reach out?

It's not only annoying – it's also stupid. Fine, I get that to some people, they're still an evil corporation that seeks nothing less than complete world domination.

But at least have the wits to think that they might change their tactics over time... when your opponents have spent the last twenty years chanting "E.E.E!!!" at every opportunity, just maybe a company full of evil masterminds might mix it up a bit, and do something unexpected. Pay attention to what's actually happening, instead of chanting tiresome old mantras...

[hajj_3]

Yeah, I know there is ext2fsd but it doesn't seem right, and I have been failing to get it to work lately.

This also exists: https://www.paragon-software.com/home/linuxfs-windows/#

[schmidtbag]

No issues for me on FAT32, however I only use it on flash drives, thus making the largest drive that I use it on being 64GB flash drives.
I use EXT4 for the OS on Linux (exception: when on UEFI, which is only on 2 devices which are UEFI-only (one also has an Android bootloader) there is a FAT32 boot partition, though as I had not yet properly learned how UEFI works, I still have not begun tinkering with this, nor have I moved the other computers to UEFI), regardless of boot media, and NTFS for the rest (no MacOS yet, and even when there will be, it will be relegated to experimentation so as to assist me when troubleshooting other peoples' Macs (and hackintoshes).

My largest drives are only 1TB (budget constraints), and even then, the current status would apply to them.
I am intrigued by the fact that ExFAT is faster than FAT32, and so I would like to know whether I could trust it (once it is in the Linux kernel) on future flash drives (64GB+, perhaps also on 8-32GB, though I will still need FAT32 for firmware updating on old computers).

If performance is what you seek, I'd look elsewhere. As far as I'm concerned, ExFAT is basically just FAT32 but with support for larger drives, more files per directory, and larger file sizes. It's a pretty barebones filesystem, but unlike FAT32, it isn't so widely adopted. If you want the most portability with your drives, stick with FAT32. If you want the best performance, that depends on what type of drive you use and whether or not you're willing to use CPU cycles for compression. If you want dependability, that depends on the host OS, but you should opt for a RAID1 setup. Dependability and portability do not really work well together.

For the record, Mac has NTFS support, it just doesn't have native read+write support. I've used NTFS drives on Mac just fine.

[phuclv]

Fuck off Microsoft, we don't need your crap

we don't need such crappy comments here

[Geopirate]

Stop vendor lock-in into OOXML. It's impossible to fix OOXML anyway, and there is no need for next "fixed and polished" version of OOXML, so only possible outcome (that can be identified as free software friendly) is drop OOXML as legacy format and switch to strict ODF implementation, preferably taken from LibreOffice.

They make money on Office365 subscriptions anyway, so this move doesn't even create financial risk for them. Everybody who want to compete with their services already do that by supporting OOXML even better than Microsoft themselves ever did (like ONLYOFFICE do) so making ODF new MSO default will change nothing but will improve documents interoperability in the future tremendously.

It seems like you don't actually understand the business model at all. People pay for a O365 subscription ONLY to use one Office app (like Word or Excel). The change you're suggesting would negatively impact their sales and provide no real benefit except making it easier for people to NOT use Word.....

Also how in the world is this related to EEE?

[tildearrow]

This also exists: https://www.paragon-software.com/home/linuxfs-windows/#

But you can't use it with partitions in the OS drive, right?

[hajj_3]

But you can't use it with partitions in the OS drive, right?

Not sure, i haven't used the program before.

[q2dg]

we don't need such crappy comments here

Ext4, xfs, jfs, btrfs, zfs...all they are available so that Microsoft could implement some of them in their system. Do a little of lateral thinking.

[duby229]

The blog also states that they are looking to have the patents covered by the OIN (though not done so yet).

Yeah, but the OIN is obviously the "Extend" part of EEE.

[duby229]

why splash licenses on something which can't read all filesystems instead of something which can read all filesystems?
they are adding code to oin, which allows peaceful use of patent

That's bullshit. The OIN requires you to joint the OIN. In fact the real truth is that -nobody- can use OIN patents, they are not free or open.