Microsoft wants to train you to use rival operating system, Linux

Microsoft used to hate the operating system that was its biggest threat, Linux. Now, as it's fond of saying, it loves Linux.

It loves Linux so much, that on Wednesday, Microsoft announced a new training program to help teach the Windows faithful in the IT world how to use Linux, as long as they are using Linux on Microsoft's cloud.

That's because, thanks to cloud computing, we're now in the "post-Windows" era, where Microsoft doesn't desperately care how much of its home-grown software its customers use, so long as the software is running on Microsoft's cloud, Azure.

To put it another way: when customers use Microsoft's cloud, Microsoft gets paid no matter what software they use. But if they go to a rival cloud company, like Amazon or Google, they are much more likely to ditch Microsoft's software altogether.

So Microsoft is using whatever carrots it can come up with to get its customers to try its cloud instead of a competitor's cloud like Amazon's or Google's

As we previously reported, Microsoft is getting more of its customers to add trial versions of its cloud to their contracts, but, not all of them are really using those trials yet, much less becoming full-on cloud customers.

That's what this training program helps them to do. But it's more than just showing them how to use Linux on Azure. It was crafted in conjunction with the Linux Foundation, the non-profit organization responsible for the free and open-source Linux operating system, and it requires IT pros to fully learn Linux. That's knowledge that will transfer to any other use of Linux.

The Linux Foundation is thrilled. In a blog post by its director Jim Zemlin, he said:

Professionals who can run both Linux and Windows systems, as well as understand hybrid environments and the development behind them will rise to the top of their field with better pay and career prospects.