Microsoft Opens Its Corporate Data Software to Linux - The New York Times

More on a development Oracle probably never expected to see

"“Data is the core asset now,” Mr. Nadella said. “Our most strategic asset is not the server operating system.”

The numbers bear that out. While Windows Server is still popular, Linux servers are gaining. According to the research firm Gartner, 3.6 million Linux servers were shipped in 2014, compared with 2.4 million in 2011. Windows servers fell to 6.2 million in that time, from 6.5 million.

In the old computing world, decoupling Windows and SQL would have been unthinkable to Microsoft executives. But with Linux servers trending up and Microsoft servers heading down, insisting that SQL has to run on Windows would mean turning away potential customers."

Microsoft Opens Its Corporate Data Software to Linux - The New York Times