14 DAY TRIAL // It's not a secret that Microsoft wasn't quite the biggest fan of open-source software in the past, but it appears that the software giant is now willing to work out a way to get closer to developers that could develop such solutions for its Azure platform.
Former CEO Steve Ballmer made a statement in 2001 that shocked pretty much everyone, comparing Linux with “a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.”
Things have changed lately and not only that Steve Ballmer is no longer Microsoft's CEO, but the one who's now running the company is focused on cloud more than anyone else.
Former cloud boss at Microsoft, the new CEO Satya Nadella wants Azure to become a much more appealing product for open-source developers, so he recently appointed a new chief in charge of the company's global efforts to reconnect with this side of the industry.
Company veteran Mark Hill, who spent 22 years at Microsoft, is now trying to show the advantages of developing open-source applications on Azure, as the company wants and needs such a direction in order to compete against Google and Amazon.
In interview with CNET, Hill pointed out that Microsoft does want to appeal to the open-source community and is willing to provide developers with all the resources they would need in order to embrace Azure.
“We have a group of individuals who are residents around the world who are open-source practitioners that we've recruited from the community. They are our subject matter experts, and they've been helping us engage -- and help Microsoft become more aware of that community... But given their healthy knowledge of open source and their connections, we're changing roles to try and make Microsoft more responsive and to make sure that we appeal to that community at large,” he said in the statement.
“We want make sure that we give (developers) the tools, training, and advice they'd need to run open-source tools on Azure. It's a great platform for them to build their business, and we want to give them everything they need to be successful.”
Open-source software has grown a lot lately not only as far as cloud infrastructure is concerned, but more organizations across the world are now looking into this side of the industry to replace traditional applications developed by Microsoft.
The City of Munich is probably the best example out there, as the local authorities have decided to drop Microsoft's products, including Office, and go for open-source alternatives, such as OpenOffice. The results, the local officials say, are significantly reduced costs, which in Microsoft software's case was pretty much impossible, despite the familiar design and advanced features.