Thirteen years ago when Steve Ballmer took over the helm of affairs at
Microsoft, he made this statement: “Linux is a cancer that attaches
itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.”
Strong words indeed but it looks Ballmer and Microsoft have had to eat their words as Microsoft has released a new product that features Linux kernel called Azure Sphere.
According to a report by ZDNet, Azure Sphere is a software and hardware stack that is designed to secure edge devices. Microsoft made this announcement recently at the RSA security conference that began on April 16 in the US. Brad Smith, president, Microsoft, said at the conference that, “After 43 years, this is the first day that we are announcing, and will distribute, a custom Linux kernel.”
Based on media reports, the Azure Sphere OS uses a custom Linux kernel optimised for low-powered devices. It’s meant to be more secure and protect devices from attacks. In addition to that Microsoft is also planning Azure Sphere certified micro controllers for smart home devices.
Apart from this, there’s also the Azure Sphere Security Service (cloud-based). This will deploy certificate-based authentication for devices that use Azure Sphere technology. So Linux is now being embraced by Microsoft for hardware, software and its cloud services.
Interestingly, Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux had once said that, “if Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.”
This is not the first time, however, that Microsoft has built an application for Linux. Back in 2016, Microsoft’s SQL Server was released on Linux. Also, Microsoft’s Azure Cloud is dominated by Linux as it was reported that over 40 percent of all virtual machines on Azure were Linux.
As for Ballmer, back in 2016 he admitted that he might called Linux a cancer but “he loved it now”. The love is clearly growing with time.
According to a report by ZDNet, Azure Sphere is a software and hardware stack that is designed to secure edge devices. Microsoft made this announcement recently at the RSA security conference that began on April 16 in the US. Brad Smith, president, Microsoft, said at the conference that, “After 43 years, this is the first day that we are announcing, and will distribute, a custom Linux kernel.”
Based on media reports, the Azure Sphere OS uses a custom Linux kernel optimised for low-powered devices. It’s meant to be more secure and protect devices from attacks. In addition to that Microsoft is also planning Azure Sphere certified micro controllers for smart home devices.
Apart from this, there’s also the Azure Sphere Security Service (cloud-based). This will deploy certificate-based authentication for devices that use Azure Sphere technology. So Linux is now being embraced by Microsoft for hardware, software and its cloud services.
Interestingly, Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux had once said that, “if Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.”
This is not the first time, however, that Microsoft has built an application for Linux. Back in 2016, Microsoft’s SQL Server was released on Linux. Also, Microsoft’s Azure Cloud is dominated by Linux as it was reported that over 40 percent of all virtual machines on Azure were Linux.
As for Ballmer, back in 2016 he admitted that he might called Linux a cancer but “he loved it now”. The love is clearly growing with time.
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