back to article Microsoft offers Linux certification. Do not adjust your set. This is not an error

Microsoft's decided it needs to offer a Linux certification. The new Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) Linux on Azure teaches you how to do Linux on Azure by making you do an Azure course and a Linux course. Redmond's bit is the five-day Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions course and …

  1. msknight

    Love the graphic. Does it come large enough for desktop wallpaper?

    1. msknight

      Don't worry - I've got it - http://wallpaperia.com/linux-vista-wallpaper.html#gsc.tab=0

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Pint

        Bless you msknight. Perfectly timed to grace an 2012 R2 instance here.

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Happy

      Quite appropriate

      I also got cross eyed when I saw the headline

  2. RIBrsiq
    Go

    So when can I sign up for my MCSE: RHCE...?

  3. astrax

    Not totally surprising

    In the context of modern day Cloud implementation, it would be daft not to

    a). to some degree integrate/facilitate the use of Linux based solutions

    b). market that integration to customers as a fully capable stack

    Why spend millions in R&D trying to emulate cloudy stuff when there are preferred Linux based solutions already in place? That way, I guess, they could pump all that residual cash into giving their customers what they want (and if they're lucky, what they need too).

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow, a quarter of Azure is Linux?

    I thought people would only go there for Windows.

    1. SecretSonOfHG

      <<Wow, a quarter of Azure is Linux?

      I thought people would only go there for Windows>>

      Well, there are times when people run out of budget for Windows licenses. Or need some standard piece of infrastructure that is already packaged and ready to go under Linux but on Windows needs not only some licenses but also a long install and configuration plus a few ancient god invocations to work reliably and securely. Or purchase some package that is sold Linux only or certified for Linux and they want to save a pinch on license costs, or.... there are a myriad valid reasons for use Windows in the data centre, and a few more to use Linux.

      And in all these cases, it is just smart from Microsoft to support Linux, if only to avoid customers deflecting out of Azure. Keep close to your friends, but even closer to your enemies and all that.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Wow, a quarter of Azure is Linux?

      I thought people would only go there for Windows."

      There are a lot of enterprises who just migrate legacy midrange stuff to Linux as a gap fill until they can move to Windows - which usually requires migrating from Oracle to SQL Server, MQ to BizTalk, etc, etc. All well worth doing, but not an overnight process. Hence they end up running some Linux that's not really strategic and need somewhere to put it.

      "Well, there are times when people run out of budget for Windows licenses."

      Supported Linux like Redhat is far more expensive to license, and Azure includes much of the Windows licencing in the costs.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Supported Linux like Redhat is far more expensive to license, and Azure includes much of the Windows licencing in the costs.

        But Windows licenses don't include support, and on Azure the support costs are the same.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "But Windows licenses don't include support"

          Even if you subscribe to paid incidents AND Software Assurance (maintenance), it's still far cheaper in 99% of circumstances than say licensing Red Hat.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "and on Azure the support costs are the same."

          Nope. You pay extra for Linux support: See SLES Premium under: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/pricing/details/virtual-machines/#Linux

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            wtf.. If you're paying for RHEL support, you're not going to be on Azure!

            Crying because "Redhat support is more than a Windows licence" is pretty damn ridiculous. That's like avoiding MySQL because Oracle DB is expensive.

            When you're at the point of even thinking about getting RHEL support, then you're way out of Microsoft's reach.

            1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Maventi

        "There are a lot of enterprises who just migrate legacy midrange stuff to Linux as a gap fill until they can move to Windows"

        Citation needed. It's not the early 2000's anymore.

        We've migrated tons of stuff to Linux, permanently. Saved a fortune and not just in license costs, it's much easier to support too. The only migration I can see on the horizon from here is to the BSDs as they seem to have their stuff sorted a bit better than Linux.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        LOL - really?

        Oh man - thanks for the laugh dude. There seem to be even more enterprises who migrate away from Windows as they come to discover the growing and inexorable rise of Linux. Really, I mean it, thanks for what is probably the best and last good laugh I've had in 2015.

    3. TheVogon

      "I thought people would only go there for Windows"

      As far as I know, Azure is the only hybrid out of the box single vendor cloud. Hence mostly why it is growing so rapidly - Microsoft overtook AWS in total cloud revenue 2 quarters ago.

      "If you're paying for RHEL support, you're not going to be on Azure!"

      Why not? It's better and cheaper than any comparable Linux based cloud option I know of.

      1. Richard Plinston

        > Microsoft overtook AWS in total cloud revenue 2 quarters ago.

        You are well known for your 'analysis' skills, or lack of them. While Microsoft may have been able to record a higher revenue figure, they did so by including many other services. Azure is about 1/4 of that of AWS.

        """Why Amazon Is Crushing Microsoft in the Cloud"""

        http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2015/11/09/amazon-web-services-aws-vs-microsoft-azure-cloud-computing-competition/

  5. Tom 7

    So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

    A small subset of 'Linux'.

    Should cloud the employment market if you'll pardon the pun.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

      Not only that, it's a "Microsoft" Cert.

      I don't mind admitting that I've cheated on a few of those MS exams. Even a 10 year old could pass them.

      (Work made us do them, as a box-ticking exercise - I'm not interested in what they cover, and they're not on my CV).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

        "I don't mind admitting that I've cheated on a few of those MS exams. Even a 10 year old could pass them."

        I guess you havn't taken any recently then. They have been completely redesigned to defeat cheating / learning the answers. Questions are randomly assembled from many different options. It's much harder to cheat these days.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

        Why would you need to cheat. Unless you're not as clever as a 10 year old?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

          Why would you need to cheat. Unless you're not as clever as a 10 year old?

          - Zero interest or use in the subject matter.

          - Employer wanting certs, but unwilling to allocate time.

          I don't believe I'm cheating Microsoft, or even myself, just a few yes-men 2 pay grades above me.

          My point is, I have first hand experience in how low-value these are. I know some have worked damn hard for these, and I have some certs I'm proud of - but they're not worth much in terms of "proof" to someone else.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

            > I have first hand experience in how low-value these are.

            Negative value, especially for Linux. If I see any MS cert on a resume, in the trash it goes.

            Also - for the foreseeable future, server Linux is giving way to BSD.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Trollface

              Re: So its not Linux, its Linux on Azure.

              2 downvotes in 2 hours, the MS and/or Linux propaganda squads are out in full force today!

  6. Kevin Johnston

    Errrrrr

    May be just my memory playing tricks but isn't Embrace the start of a well know Microsoft-linked phrase?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Errrrrr

      "I see you've been running that Linux program on Azure for a year or two now and it seems to be getting slower, perhaps you need to consider re-writing it for a much more modern OS"

      </clippy> </sarcasm>

      1. gv

        Re: Errrrrr

        When will we see SQL Server on Linux?

        1. vagabondo

          Re: When will we see SQL Server on Linux?

          When there's not a better alternative on Linux.

          1. thames

            Re: When will we see SQL Server on Linux?

            I listened to a podcast interview of one of the leading Postgres developers a while ago, and he said that of the users who were switching to Postgres, more were switching from MS SQL Server than from any other database (including Oracle). So evidently, switching databases is something that businesses actually do on a regular basis.

            This particular guy however made a living consulting on large complex database applications, so he may not have as good of an insight into what the users of smaller and simpler MS SQL installations were doing.

            MS SQL Server started life as the Windows version of Sybase SQL Server, until Microsoft bought that part of the business from Sybase and licensed the source code from them. I know of someone who switched a medium size business from MS to Sybase to get some really big cost savings, and he said he had no issues. That was before the take over by SAP however, so I don't know how things are going today.

            In the long run, I suspect that legacy database systems such as MS SQL Server and Oracle are going to be stuffed. There is a proliferation of new specialised databases, almost all of which are open source, and new applications will be designed around those to avoid vendor lock-in.

            1. sain1rishab

              Re: When will we see SQL Server on Linux?

              SQL Server was 2019 runs on Linux.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Errrrrr

          "When will we see SQL Server on Linux?"

          Maybe when Linux Linux supports the required fully granular security model without a file system dependency, supports constrained delegation for proper roles based security isolation, and adopts a fully modular network stack?

          "When there's not a better alternative on Linux."

          The only real alternative that's significantly better in any way is Oracle RAC, and that costs £££££....

    2. Arctic fox
      Windows

      Re: "Embrace the start of a well know Microsoft-linked phrase?"

      Microsoft has not a hope in hell of extinguishing Linux, something the current CEO knows perfectly well and is clearly able to accept in a way that his predecessors were not. Given that, “approximately one in four virtual machines on Azure are Linux, and more than half of Azure Marketplace images are based on Linux”, Nadella would appear to be applying intelligent self-interest rather than the brain dead variety that both Ballmer and Gates specialised in as far as anything remotely related to open source was concerned.

    3. phuzz Silver badge
      Gimp

      Re: Errrrrr

      If you run a VM on Azur then you'd going to be paying Microsoft money, no matter what OS it is.

      Of course, if you were running Windows then you'd be paying them more, but hey, they might as well get some of that money anyway.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Errrrrr

        "Of course, if you were running Windows then you'd be paying them more"

        Nope - it's more for fully supported Red Hat for instance.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Errrrrr

          Nope - it's more for fully supported Red Hat for instance.

          Not an issue. If cost is your main concern, then you don't purchase RH support.

          Not only that, but if you can't afford it then you don't need it.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Errrrrr

            "If cost is your main concern, then you don't purchase RH support."

            Then it costs the same as running Windows on Azure.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    “is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches”

    Yes, and it's even starting to take over Microsoft.

    Linux has embraced Microsoft over the years with FAT support, Samba, Wine and Mono. It's now extending, by providing 25% of their VMs, .NET on Linux, and now a certification. We should see the next phase by the turn of the decade.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "We should see the next phase by the turn of the decade."

      Yes, let's hope Linux fully adopts a proper config database by then.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        let's hope Linux fully adopts a proper config database by then.

        God no, I hope you're being sarcastic! Let's not bundle all our config into one unmanagable & undocumented basket, with an interface from 1995.

        Microsoft is being embraced and extended by Linux, not the other way round!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Let's not bundle all our config into one unmanagable & undocumented basket, with an interface from 1995"

          Windows started off with unscalable text files for config all over the place. These type of files can't support even basic requirements like granular auditing of security control of individual settings. Linux is way behind on this one - although I note that some more modern UNIX versions are starting to adopt a config database, although they are still way behind Windows in this regard.

          "Microsoft is being embraced and extended by Linux, not the other way round!"

          Nope. Microsoft is making Linux users pay to run Linux on a Microsoft OS hosted Hypervisor. Hyper-V Server does after all scale somewhat better than any hypervisor layer on top of Linux option.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            basic requirements like granular auditing of security control of individual settings

            There's no demand for something like that.

            Linux is way behind on this one

            It's not really "behind". It's implemented in Wine. If there was any need for it, then that could be used. It's there for the taking! But... no one wants it.

          2. Maventi

            "unscalable text files".

            This old chestnut again and again. So can you please take a moment to explain to the audience exactly what's so 'unscalable' about text files? I've found them quite ideal for managing 1000s of hosts, if that's what you are trying to state. And I've had years of Windows experience too before discovering 'nix.

  8. Franco

    Despite what Ballmer will say this does make perfect sense. MS is a software company after all, and has started to embrace other platforms (Android and iOS) for it's mobile apps. How long before we see Office for Linux Desktops?

    1. Captain DaFt

      Contacted Ballmer for his opinion

      He wasn't happy.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    For some reason...

    I've got a cold chill running down my spine over this.

    It may be M$ track record of dirty tricks, attitude towards open source and general FUD towards the "competition".

    Trusting M$ to do Linux a good turn, no matter how self-serving that may be, just goes completely against the grain.

    Wish I could articulate this fear and mistrust better...

    1. Amorous Cowherder

      Re: For some reason...

      Wakey, wakey. No company does anything for a good reason, they do it 'cos there's a profit. Rather than watch you bugger off to some other company to get your LInux certs, MS hire a few qualified RHEL examiners to write their Linux certs papers and bingo, they can start charging you £2500 for a week's course ( mandatory requirement to take the cert! ) and another £150 for the exam, plus retakes.

      Oracle, MS, Apple, they all offer certs purely to get people to attend their education classes at a couple of grand a pop.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: For some reason...

        I can understand companies using any leverage it can to maximise profit. That isn't my issue.

        The Linux certificates from Microsoft sounds as if M$ they are saying "I've changed, I promise it'll never happen again", thus my trepidation.

        I can't help thinking "How will Microsoft use this to undermine Linux?"

        1. 33rpm

          Re: For some reason...

          Or it could be since Ballmer is gone they can pull their heads out of their arses.

        2. This post has been deleted by its author

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: For some reason...

          I can't help thinking "How will Microsoft use this to undermine Linux?"

          Quite a few ways, I would imagine.

          There are loads of sales opportunities in training. Highlighting why Azure is the best platform for your Linux instances is the obvious one. I'd also expect the content to include using Windows products to manage the Linux side of things, e.g. Active Directory.

          Amsel (Amschel) Bauer Mayer Rothschild, 1838: "Let me issue and control a Nation's money and I care not who makes its laws".

  10. hazzamon

    Coming soon - Cisco to offer CCNP in Juniper.

  11. Steven Roper

    25% of the machines connecting to Microsoft's cloud are running Linux? Windows 10 has pissed off that many people already? This is a good sign.

    Now, if Nadella is smart enough to recognise this, maybe he's smart enough to realise that people don't want the Windows 10 ransom and spyware. But I'm not holding my breath.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "25% of the machines connecting to Microsoft's cloud are running Linux?"

      No, that's about 1%.

      25% of the VMs run by customers on the Microsoft Azure cloud are running Linux.

      1. Steven Roper

        Ah, I must have missed that bit. Thanks for pointing that out, I stand corrected.

  12. wolfetone Silver badge
    Linux

    I think Torvalds has won, hasn't he?

    1. thames

      "I think Torvalds has won, hasn't he?"

      Yes he has, and we can tell that because the Microsoft Windows sales account managers seem to have nothing to do these days other than post self-delusional anonymous career path self-justifications on El Reg about how they've still "got it" while sobbing into their beer in a lonely corner of a pub.

      Nobody believes the crap they post, but as they click the "post anonymously" box on the El Reg comment form, they can tell themselves that they "stuck it to the man" as their career gets steamrollered beneath the flippers of relentless progress.

  13. Locomotion69
    Go

    The end is near

    Windows 11 = Linux core with WinXP desktop windowmanager.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The end is near

      "Windows 11 = Linux core"

      More likely Windows core, with Linux / Android / OSX runtimes to run all your legacy / cross platform requirements in one place.

      I note that Windows Mobile 10 as of the last patch Tuesday is running the exact same Windows 10 build as my desktop! Microsoft's ducks are finally all lining up very well it seems....

      1. Anonymous Bullard

        Re: The end is near

        More likely Windows core, with Linux / Android / OSX runtimes to run all your legacy / cross platform requirements in one place.

        What, when Microsoft is porting their flagship development platform to Linux (and OSX)? ASP.NET no longer requires IIS.

        That, and along with Wine, you have a Linux core with Windows runtimes for your "legacy" applications. Today.

        Besides, they've given up on an Android runtime on Windows. They just release their apps on Android instead - like everybody else.

  14. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Meh

    Hmmm.

    Maybe I'm just old and cynical, but I regard this with deep suspicion.

    1. stephanh

      Re: Hmmm.

      I don't. The only thing surprising about this is that it took them so long. Of course, Microsoft would prefer you running Windows on Azure. But if you are going to run Linux, they would rather have you run it on Azure. Because otherwise you might go to Amazon and who knows, one day you might decide that you can run your Windows VMs on Amazon too.

      In other words, like every other business in existence, they would prefer you to use their toothbrushes AND their toothpaste, but if you insist on Penguin-brand toothpaste, then please at least use our brushes.

      (I am not sure if they see this mostly as offensive or defensive. Offensive, in the sense of getting a foot in the door at Linux-only shops, or defensive in the sense of preventing Amazon getting a foot in the door in Microsoft-only shops.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hmmm.

        Microsoft will always be able to under-cut any other Windows host - they get the licenses for nothing.

  15. James Loughner
    Coat

    Weather report from Hell

    Freezing temperatures for foreseeable future.

    Snow expected

    1. GrahamsTenPenneth

      Re: Weather report from Hell

      ...and the pigs have been fed and are taxiing out to the runway as we speak.

  16. Chazling

    OK. I'm not that surprised that MS would do this. My question is "Why would you go to MS for a Linux certification?" I'm not sure what their motivation for doing this is, but I'm sure I'm not interested.

  17. shaunhw

    Never mind Linux.

    Given the widespread problems caused by Windows 10 and its subsequent updates, Microsoft ought to get their staff to do some of its courses... Or maybe they did already, hence the chaos.

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