In 2001, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described Linux as “… the cancer that spreads to everything it touches.” This week in 2016, Microsoft announced that it has joined the Linux Foundation σαν platinum member.
The news should not be surprising as we have seen recent moves from Microsoft showing that the company has begun to see Linux as a platform that can work with Windows and that it has plans to open the code for several of its software . 
Το 2012 η εταιρεία ήταν ένας από τους 20 κορυφαίους contributors του Linux Kernel, αντιπροσωπεύοντας το 1% του συνόλου του πηγαίου κώδικα. Το 2014, ανοίγει το λογισμικό το .NET Core Framework και το επόμενο έτος έκανε το ίδιο με το Visual Studio Code. Έχει βοηθήσει επίσης στην ανάπτυξη αρκετών projects high profile open source software such as Hadoop and Samba. And let's mention, of course, that earlier this year he worked with Canonical to port Bash to Windows.
According to Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, joining Microsoft as a member of the Linux Foundation means "working better with the open source community to deliver transformative mobile and cloud experiences to more people."
Υπάρχει όμως και μια άλλη βασική λεπτομέρεια στην είδηση της ένταξης της Μicrosoft στο Linux Foundation. Η εταιρεία σαν platinum member θα πρέπει να πληρώνει μια ετήσια συνδρομή που φτάνει τα 500.000 δολάρια. Είναι αρκετά χρήματα για τη χρηματοδότηση της ανάπτυξης, της managementand the Linux Foundation view. Other platinum members are the companies: Cisco, Fujitsu, HPE, Huawei, IBM, Intel NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm, and Samsung.
Let's mention that the above news is not such an altruistic act on the part of Microsoft, which seems to have realized that Linux development is in the company's interest, especially if you think of Microsoft Azure.
