The number of Linux instances running in the Microsoft Azure cloud is now greater than those running on Windows Server. A basic trend that concerns both customers and the publisher itself.

The days when former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux cancer is a thing of the past. Since the Redmond firm joined the Linux foundation in 2016, announcements of support around the open systems have multiplied (Azure Sphere, Chromium Edge, better support for Linux containers in Windows Server 19 ... ).
This time, it is a symbolic and significant step that has been taken regarding the use of Linux instances in the Azure cloud, now the majority. "The use of Linux in our cloud has overtaken Windows," said Sasha Levin, a Microsoft developer of Linux  kernel optimization for Windows Server.


The progression of Linux instances in the Microsoft cloud has accelerated in recent months. While in 2017 the editor's technical director, Mark Russinovich, explained that Linux was running on 25% of Azure instances, running in 2018 Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft and former leader of Microsoft's cloud business, said that this proportion was already close to half. The choice to go to Azure instances and Linux stacks is not just for customers, but also for Microsoft's need for endpoint security solutions in IoT environments (Azure Sphere) as well as SDN with Sonic. To date, more than 8 Linux distributions are also available on Azure.



The market share of Linux rising in the world

Increasing the use of Linux on the Microsoft cloud is far from an isolated case. Worldwide, the market share of this environment is gaining points every year with today more than 70% of the world's largest web sites running on it knowing that it also powers more than 90% of AWS EC2 instances. According to IDC, in 2017 Linux was close to 70% market share in global operating systems and subsystems.