There is no doubt that Microsoft’s flagship product for the end user is its Windows operating system. But in recent years the approach to open source systems based on linux has grown exponentially.
This is something that could be considered almost unthinkable if we went back in time, a few years ago, since both platforms were clearly at odds. However, perhaps the most veteran still remember that moment, a few years ago, when Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in a public presentation said that Microsoft loved Linux. Without a doubt, this meant an important change of perspective for Microsoft, its workers and projects.
When this happened, there were multitudes of users around the globe who were happy with this change of view of the software giant. But at the same time, many others were somewhat skeptical in this regard, something that little by little they have had to correct. For those who are still undecided about this statement by the software giant that owns Windows and Office, we are going to try to convince you.
In fact, we’ve reached a point where, if it were possible, Microsoft would probably try to buy Linux, but that’s impossible. Therefore, it will have to settle for all the collaborations and aid it provides to this open source software, as we are going to see.
And it is that in these same lines we are going to talk about a series of reasons that show that Microsoft has become a fan and follower of Linux. This is something that it has been demonstrating over the last few years and that it makes clear with some of its most recent movements in this regard.
Microsoft is closer than ever to Linux, these are the tests
- Adoption of the open source philosophy: the truth is that for some time now the software giant regularly attends open source conferences and even sponsors them on occasion. Furthermore, he has a section of his website dedicated to this software and for example has published his own version of FreeBSD for Azure.
- The company belongs to the Linux Foundation: another of the reasons that Microsoft’s support for open source software makes clear is that since 2016 it belongs to the Linux Foundation with a platinum level. This means that you are dealing with one of the highest spending members here. Its high level of sponsorship is above Google, for example.
- Design software for Linux: this company is currently adapting various developments to the open source operating system, its popular Skype being one of the pioneers. At the moment the company has many compatible applications and platforms such as Visual Studio Code or Teams.
- Microsoft contributes to the Linux kernel: know that in the open source software industry anyone can create and share their own projects. This includes the Linux kernel, something Microsoft has been collaborating on for years.
- They have their own Linux distro: say that Azure Sphere is an operating system for computers based on the ARM architecture. Here Microsoft is targeting Internet of Things devices, a system built, rather than Windows-based, on Linux.
- There are Linux distributions in the Windows store: for several years now, specifically since 2017, the Microsoft Store offers us some Linux distributions that we can download. Here we find titles as important as Ubuntu, Fedora or OpenSUSE.
