There was a time when Microsoft and the Linux community seemed to be at war. Things have been changing for a while. Microsoft has built its own Linux distro for cloud software. Windows 10 includes a built-in Linux subsystem aimed at developers, but available for anyone to use.
And now Microsoft has joined the Linux Foundation. As a Platinum Member.
Microsoft is already a major contributor to a number of Linux projects, but joining the board of the organization is a pretty big step toward working with the open source community.
The company has also open sourced parts of its .NET platform, and Microsoft has announced that Google is joining the .NET Foundation’s Technical Steering Group and that Samsung is introducing a preview version of its Visual Studio Tools for Tizen, allowing .NET developers to create apps for Samsung’s Linux-based wearables, smart TVs, and other devices.
Microsoft is also launching a public preview of SQL Server on Linux today, along with a new Visual Studio for Mac preview.
Welcome to the new Microsoft under Satya Nadella’s leadership. Either the “embrace, extend, extinguish” mantra is a thing of the past… or we’re seeing a major push to embrace right now.