Microsoft opens up to open source with SQL Server on Linux

After years of having a rocky relationship with open source technology, Microsoft plans to release a version of SQL Server on Linux in mid-2017. "This is a massive, massive change," said Denny Cherry, owner and principal consultant of Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting. This isn't the first time Microsoft has opened up to open source. Last year, the company made Azure Data Lake services available on the Linux-based operating system Ubuntu. "They got into a much friendlier space with Linux," Cherry said. "[SQL Server on Linux] just makes sense for Microsoft. I think the next big step was to say, 'We're making this awesome software available for a platform we don't own.'"