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But why? What would they gain? You think Microsoft is interested in Linux enterprise support?

kjs3 3y ago
Microsoft is very interested in any enterprise support it can monetize. Ignoring WSL (you shouldn't), you'd be surprised how much Linux runs in Azure. Buying Ubuntu lets M$ say "sure you can run Linux in our cloud. We have one right here, one we support, for a modest fee".
- fariszr 3y ago
  Yeah, but we all know Ubuntu is used because its beginner-friendly and free. Once it becomes paid, poof everyone switches to Debian.
  - mardifoufs 3y ago
    Ubuntu is massive on cloud platforms. I'd bet bigger than even Debian. And IIRC even AKS runs on Ubuntu. At least last time I used it.
    - fariszr 3y ago
      Because for many people, Ubuntu is the linux distro. Why? Because it's free, and very simple to use, but if it becomes paid, no matter how good it is, devs will switch to something else, and the market will follow them, gradually.
  - kjs3 3y ago
    That's an extremely reductionist/simplistic view of why people pick, use and/or discard an operating system. And, FWIW, Ubuntu isn't my primary cloud Linux.
- eddythompson80 3y ago
  Unless you can demonstrate to Microsoft that enterprise desktop Linux support ROI can ever rivals Window’s or their cloud bunsiness, they won’t be interested. In fact, I’m pretty sure Microsoft doesn’t know what to do with the Windows business at this point. They really would love to dump it, but they can’t. Office is more profitable than Windows. Azure is more profitable that Office and Windows. If trends keep, Xbox will over take Windows. There is no growth potential anywhere in the Windows business. They tried hard with the Surface line to imitate what Apple has with OSX, but they failed. Surface didn’t become the de facto Windows hardware like the Mac is for OSX. It’s just a side hussle to see where it could lead in the future for them. Microsoft already announced their “Azure Linux” distribution which is like Amazon is a fedora based Linux flavor that just lets them control the versioning of all user space rpm packages for a server/docker offering in Azure. they have no interest in making this a full “Enterprise Linux” offering. as long as they can offer servers an docker images that are rpm compatible, they are good for now. WSL is entirely kernel layer. So whatever your distro is, they are good with it.

kjs3 3y ago

Microsoft is very interested in any enterprise support it can monetize. Ignoring WSL (you shouldn't), you'd be surprised how much Linux runs in Azure. Buying Ubuntu lets M$ say "sure you can run Linux in our cloud. We have one right here, one we support, for a modest fee".

fariszr 3y ago
Yeah, but we all know Ubuntu is used because its beginner-friendly and free. Once it becomes paid, poof everyone switches to Debian.
- mardifoufs 3y ago
  Ubuntu is massive on cloud platforms. I'd bet bigger than even Debian. And IIRC even AKS runs on Ubuntu. At least last time I used it.
  - fariszr 3y ago
    Because for many people, Ubuntu is the linux distro. Why? Because it's free, and very simple to use, but if it becomes paid, no matter how good it is, devs will switch to something else, and the market will follow them, gradually.
- kjs3 3y ago
  That's an extremely reductionist/simplistic view of why people pick, use and/or discard an operating system. And, FWIW, Ubuntu isn't my primary cloud Linux.
eddythompson80 3y ago
Unless you can demonstrate to Microsoft that enterprise desktop Linux support ROI can ever rivals Window’s or their cloud bunsiness, they won’t be interested. In fact, I’m pretty sure Microsoft doesn’t know what to do with the Windows business at this point. They really would love to dump it, but they can’t. Office is more profitable than Windows. Azure is more profitable that Office and Windows. If trends keep, Xbox will over take Windows. There is no growth potential anywhere in the Windows business. They tried hard with the Surface line to imitate what Apple has with OSX, but they failed. Surface didn’t become the de facto Windows hardware like the Mac is for OSX. It’s just a side hussle to see where it could lead in the future for them. Microsoft already announced their “Azure Linux” distribution which is like Amazon is a fedora based Linux flavor that just lets them control the versioning of all user space rpm packages for a server/docker offering in Azure. they have no interest in making this a full “Enterprise Linux” offering. as long as they can offer servers an docker images that are rpm compatible, they are good for now. WSL is entirely kernel layer. So whatever your distro is, they are good with it.