Security tips

Pigs can fly! And Microsoft is a fan of Linux

Yes, I get it, pigs can't fly! At least not without using one of these drones! But let's be honest and admit that few of us would have thought that Microsoft is going to do something of similar proportions, supporting the Linux operating system the way it does today. How has this happened, and how is Microsoft's authentic support for Linux demonstrated? Read on and I promise that you will get the answers to these questions.

Several former Microsoft CEOs have considered Linux to be their top enemy, the plague, and so on. But Satya Nadella, the Microsoft leader who has made the software giant look cool again, has publicly declared that his company simply loves the most popular open-source operating system. Fortunately, there are several Microsoft products that can successfully back his claims.

To begin with, Microsoft's cloud services utilize Azure Sphere, an OS that is based on Linux. This is exactly what its top competitors do (use Linux) at least when it comes to cloud-based services. We like it or not (actually, we like it!) most Internet servers utilize Linux. So, even though Microsoft could have used a modified version of its Windows operating system for this task, it chose Linux instead.

There is also an intelligent strategy behind this move, I know. These days, Microsoft tries to increase its profit by selling various services and getting people to subscribe to its products (think Azure, Office 365, etc.) rather than trying to sell them an operating system that needs to be upgraded every two years. It simply isn't nice to try and force people to use the newest version of the Windows OS, if they don't want to do that.

Still, supporting Linux is a very smart move. It looks like Microsoft has learned a valuable lesson: it may not be able to persuade people into using its operating system, but it can get them to use its services and applications, even if they are using the Linux platform.

Did you know that Windows Store also includes several Linux distributions? Yes, the unthinkable has happened: you can now run Linux applications from within Windows! If you are a Linux fan, you will be happy to discover that Windows users can also install Ubuntu, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, OpenSUSE, Kali Linux and the Debian GNU/Linux distros.

Okay, you may not be able to run all your graphics intensive applications perfectly; or, who knows, maybe you will be able to do that! However, regular applications will work fine, and you will have access to a fully functional command line.

Microsoft also encourages Linux developers by creating powerful software development tools that are dedicated to them. Visual Studio Code is a free, open source IDE that has integrated Git, debugging and various useful extensions. Follow this link to download the .deb kit (Debian, Ubuntu) and .rpm kit (Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE). And yes, they've also got a macOS version!

The company continues to contribute to the Linux Kernel as well. Truth be told, they've been doing it for several years now. Microsoft has recently become a member of the Linux foundation, being one of its highest spending members.