Once described by Steve Ballmer as a “cancer,” Microsoft nowadays is fundamentally different from the Microsoft we knew twenty years ago. The company is more open than before and is even helping its competitors, whether you will.
Microsoft announced that it joined the Linux association with the highest membership available to them, which is platinum, and will have a seat on the board of directors and pay an annual fee of $ 500,000.
The Linux Association is a non-profit technical group working in the development of open source technologies in several areas, not only the Linux operating system, where there are tools from its development and provide training and assistance for open source projects.
Microsoft’s contribution to Linux is not new, as it has previously worked on several projects including Node.js, OpenDaylight, the R Alliance, and the Open API Initiative.
But now Microsoft has become more cooperative with the Linux association and will oversee their projects internally. Accession talks have started since the beginning of the year and both parties are expected to benefit from this step.
With the Platinum membership, Microsoft joins other technology companies working with the Linux association, such as Samsung, Oracle, Qualcomm, Intel, IBM, HP and others.
Since Satya Nadella took over Microsoft there has been a lot of changes and openness to the company. We saw how it introduced the Linux BASH command line within Windows 10, and yesterday it announced the launch of Visual Studio on the Mac, and more surprises we will see later, all of this confirms that keeping pace with change is a necessity to maintain the company.
