New collaboration on cloud services between the two

Jul 11, 2016 06:11 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is becoming more and more active in the Linux world, and after teasing some “exciting news for Linux users,” the company is now signing another partnership that could help strengthen its position as one of the leading names in the cloud business.

Today, the software giant has signed a new partnership with SUSE Linux to continue their collaboration on public cloud services, as the two companies first signed an agreement in 2016.

The renewed partnership has also updated terms and commitments, ITWire reveals, but specifics are not available for the time being.

The original deal between Microsoft and SUSE Linux was signed in 2006, when the German company was owned by Novell, but at that moment, the software giant and companies involved in the Linux world were still considered fierce rivals. Steve Ballmer, CEO at that time of Microsoft, fueled the long-distance war between his company and the open-source ecosystem by calling Linux “a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches,” back in 2001.

Steve Ballmer now loves Linux

But times have changed, and Microsoft is now investing millions of dollars in getting closer to the Linux world, with Kristin Kinan, Global Alliance Director for Public Cloud at SUSE, saying that Redmond’s business in this industry has improved significantly lately.

“Microsoft’s Linux business has grown to over 22 to 25% of their public cloud business, demonstrating customer commitment to Linux. Their investment in open source solutions, selling initiatives and partnering has exceeded our expectations,” she said.

Furthermore, the former CEO Steve Ballmer has recently retracted his statements that Linux is a cancer, claiming that “now I love it” and pointing out that Microsoft made the right call by fighting against the open source world because that generated millions of dollars in revenues.

Without a doubt, with the new CEO Satya Nadella himself being keener on Microsoft’s cloud business, such agreements will continue, and it’s very clear that Redmond’s investments in the Linux world aren’t going to stop here.