In an unexpected turn of events, the prestigious Linux Foundation announced that Microsoft, the world’s second most valuable corporation, had joined as a Platinum member during Microsoft Connect event held in New York.
This move comes after Microsoft has shown active support in the open source market, initially by joining GitHub as a contributor, releasing the open source .NET Core 1.0, partnering with Canonical to bring Ubuntu to Windows 10, working with FreeBSD to release an image for Azure, and open sourcing its software development kit after the Xamarin acquisition. In addition, Microsoft works with companies like Red Hat, SUSE and others to support their solutions in its products.
Apart from these initiatives, Microsoft has also been an active supporter of Linux services, including Node.js Foundation, OpenDaylight, Open Container Initiative, R Consortium and Open API Initiative.
“As a cloud platform company we aim to help developers achieve more using the platforms and languages they know. The Linux Foundation is home not only to Linux, but many of the community’s most innovative open source projects. We are excited to join The Linux Foundation and partner with the community to help developers capitalize on the shift to intelligent cloud and mobile experiences.” says Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise Group.
“Microsoft has grown and matured in its use of and contributions to open source technology. The company has become an enthusiastic supporter of Linux and of open source and a very active member of many important projects. Membership is an important step for Microsoft, but also for the open source community at large, which stands to benefit from the company’s expanding range of contributions.” says Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation.
Microsoft already contributes actively to Linux Foundation projects like OpenDaylight, Open Container Initiative, Node.js Foundation, R Consortium and Open API Initiative.
