The new Microsoft has placed an increased importance on the cloud, and with other companies following suit, reliance on server solutions has increased. Today the company announces that it is bringing SQL Server to Linux.
Both cloud and on-premises versions will be available, and the news has been welcomed by the likes of Red Hat and Canonical. Although the Linux port of SQL Server is not due to make an appearance until the middle of next year, a private preview version is being made available to testers from today.
— Microsoft brings SQL Server to Linux | BetaNews
This is a big deal, even though it isn’t open source. It is Microsoft acknowledging the increasing dominance of Linux in the data center.