The shift in Microsoft's rhetoric regarding Linux has been clear since the CEO change, with Satya Nadella taking over from Steve Ballmer. So now we are witnessing the unthinkable. 
Microsoft recommends Linux on Twitter.
Create VMs w/ #Ubuntu, the most popular Linux for #cloud environments: https://t.co/XYq5Syuq27 #MarketplaceMonday pic.twitter.com/z0rikbzix0
— Microsoft Azure (@Azure) October 5, 2015
If someone had told us a year or two ago that we would see Microsoft recommending Linux and specifically Ubuntu as the best operating system for cloud systems, we would have thought them crazy, without a doubt. And yet things have changed!
Microsoft's policy is now a bit more focused, and the company doesn't seem to be trying to be the best at everything.
Apparently, they can now admit that Ubuntu is simply the best operating system for cloud environments.
It will probably be some time before we see the company advertise Windows Server in the same way. For now, Microsoft seems a little more friendly with the use of Ubuntu, but that doesn't mean it has stopped developing the competing Windows Server operating system, or that it won't try tooth and nail to keep it in the market.
“Ubuntu Server 15.04 (amd64 20150909) for Microsoft Azure. Ubuntu Server is the most popular Linux distribution in the cloud. Updates and patches for Ubuntu 15.04 will be available until 01.23.2016. Ubuntu Server is the perfect platform for all web application workloads on NoSQL and Hadoop databases,” reads the official announcement for the launch of the Marketplace.
