It must be a frosty day indeed in the nether regions as Microsoft announces it has joined the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member. As the Ars article points out, Microsoft has been becoming more and more open source friendly over the last few years since Satya Nadella became CEO. Microsoft currently contributes to several Linux Foundation projects, including Node.js Foundation, OpenDaylight, Open Container Initiative, R Consortium and Open API Initiative. Still, this is something that was unthinkable not that long ago. Nevertheless, it is a very welcome move here. I remember visiting Microsoft a number of years ago, and I was quite impressed with the talented people working there. I sometimes joked that they must surely have a Microsoft distribution of Linux running Office tucked away somewhere on the Redmond campus!
Today’s announcement also included the revelation of a Linux version of SQL server becoming available for preview. So it suddenly doesn’t seem all that farfetched that a Linux version of Office could make an appearance in the future. Microsoft already has Android and iOS versions of Office applications, so a Linux version is not a big stretch. And Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 will be joining Visual Studio Code on the Mac. While Visual Studio 2017 on the Mac is really an update of the Xamarin Studio development tools, it is a very welcome addition. I have found Macs to be wonderful development platforms and this addition will allow me to broaden my development targets without the overhead of running a Windows VM, hopefully.
Completing this seemingly improbable love fest, it was also announced that Google is joining the .NET Foundation and will be part of the Steering Group. As a developer, I’m really liking all of this cross platform kumbya!