Microsoft in the News

I work in a Microsoft-centric shop and some of their recent developments are of great interest:

SQL Server for Linux

The next major version of SQL Server (2016) will be available for Linux. This could have a big impact on licensing costs- Linux is heaps cheaper than Windows Server.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/sql-server-for-linux-coming-in-mid-2017/

Microsoft buying Xamarin

Xamarin is a product that compiles C# code into native iOS and Android.  I'm following this acquisition closely and am hoping Microsoft will fold Xamarin into Visual Studio because that will make it feasible for organizations like mine to build iPhone/iPad and Android apps using our current tools and skill sets.  Otherwise we would have to set up separate dev environments and learn the languages of each platform (Objective-C, Java, Swift, etc. ), which isn't really an option at my small shop.

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/02/24/microsoft-to-acquire-xamarin-and-empower-more-developers-to-build-apps-on-any-device/

It will be interesting to see what Microsoft decides to do with this.