With Apple inviting a Microsoft executive on stage during their event recently, it seems there’s no end to the instances of blindsiding of disbelief in technology these days. The newest development is this: Microsoft is working on an operating system that is actually based on Linux.
After you’ve had a chance to digest that sentence and maybe read that a couple of times more to get over the initial incredulity, you should know that this is true. The company is working on building something called Azure Cloud Switch (ACS), a software aimed at making it simpler to control the hardware that powers their cloud-based services. And they have chosen to build this particular piece of software based on non other than their long-standing platform foe Linux.
This new operating system is not one aimed at desktops or laptops–it is to do with high-end enterprise networking hardware. The aim, they said, is to create a software based operating environment that makes it easier to manage and control those pieces of networking components which drive their enterprise-class cloud services, including high-end switches and routers. With numerous companies providing this hardware, each propounds their own software platform for control and management, which becomes a challenge when dealing with mixed hardware typically deployed in cloud services. The operating system under development aims to alleviate this issue and deliver a more unified, cloud-centric platform that works across diverse hardware solutions.
This inclusive approach is actually a far cry from Microsoft’s early days when such a level of software diversity in their product portfolio was practically unheard of. But the new Satya Nadella Microsoft is a whole other beast, with the company increasingly embracing other technologies–even competition–along their way toward developing products aimed at serving today’s consumers computing needs.
That being said, we’re still reeling from this news. But more power to diversity and to playing nice in technology.
If you’re interested in the technical deep dive into ACS, you’ll find it on the Microsoft Azure blog.
