A look back at Microsoft's sometimes-rocky relationship with Linux over the past decade Microsoft Monday made an historic move by submitting device drivers to the Linux kernel under a GPLv2 license. Microsoft has had a checkered past with both Linux and its open source GPL licensing structure, so the move was a jaw dropper. Here is a look at some of the milestones since Microsoft internal memos leaked in 1998 that attacked the open source Linux operating system as it began to pick up steam as an alternative to Windows.Microsoft stuns Linux world A watershed event for Microsoft Microsoft’s Linux submission raises virtualization questions Linux driver chief went looking for Microsoft Microsoft Linux move puts pressure on VMware[ Analysis roundup: Martin Heller says that Microsoft’s Linux contributions are quite welcome. | Savio Rodrigues credits Microsoft for making a good business decision. | Randall Kennedy thinks Microsoft will use the GPL to mount an attack on the Linux platform. ] 1998 Internal Microsoft “Halloween memos” attacking Linux leak out.2001 May — Craig Mundie, Microsoft senior vice president, says the GPL poses a threat to the intellectual property of any organization making use of it.June — CEO Steve Ballmer one-ups Mundie, calling Linux a “cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. That’s the way that the license works.” 2002 May — Then-Microsoft chairman Bill Gates equates the GPL to anti-capitalism at a Government Leaders’ Conference in Seattle.2003 Microsoft begins its Get the Facts campaign extolling virtues of Windows over Linux. The campaign is disbanded in 2007.2004 November — Ballmer says Windows provides better intellectual property indemnification than its open source rivals. 2005 September — An oblivious recruiter sends vocal open source advocate Eric Raymond an e-mail pitch seeking his interest in a position at Microsoft.2006 March — Microsoft opens Port 25, which is billed as an open source community at MicrosoftJune — Microsoft begins hosting Codeplex, a Web storage site for developers. November — Microsoft and Novell enter business and technology partnership to provide integration between Linux and Windows, including a joint interoperability lab in Cambridge, Mass.2007 May — Microsoft claims Linux and open source violates 235 of its patents.2008 July — Microsoft makes $100,000 investment in Apache Foundation to become one of only three Platinum sponsors of the Apache Foundation (Yahoo and Google are the others). July — Microsoft makes first code contribution to PHP, a patch to ADOdb, a data access layer for PHP.2009 July — Microsoft submits device driver source code for inclusion in the Linux kernel under a GPLv2 license. Software DevelopmentTechnology Industry