On Microsoft’s own Azure cloud, 75% of machines run Linux. These are Microsoft customers who are running Linux. Microsoft needs to support the platform they use, or they will go somewhere else.

To that end, Microsoft has written a Linux subsystem in Windows, that allows users/admins to run bash commands.

Is Microsoft’s victory a loss for traditional Linux vendors? To some degree, yes. Microsoft has become a direct competitor. But the clear winner here is Linux.

Microsoft doesn’t own any Linux technologies. They are totally dependent on an external vendor, in this case Canonical, for their entire Linux layer. Too risky a proposition, if Canonical gets acquired by a fierce competitor.

Read the full story from CIO magazine here