SQL Server on Linux

 SQL Server on Linux

This week Microsoft announced plans to bring SQL Server to Linux.
No, this is not an early April Fool’s Day joke.
It seems that Microsoft now love Linux!

Credit: Microsoft

Historically SQL Sever has always run only on Windows. This decision will now enable SQL Server to deliver a consistent data platform across Windows Server and Linux. Microsoft has already shown off a working demo version of SQL Server running on Ubuntu 15.10.

The target availability date is currently mid-2017.

Embracing Linux opens up new deployment options for businesses that may be seeking SQL Server's capabilities. SQL Server has lost market share in recent years due to the adoption of open source Linux-compatible databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL and many developers now want to develop on a Linux-based stack.

I expect that Microsoft will think that this will accelerate the overall adoption of SQL Server and hopefully claw back some market share.
Microsoft has so far lined up support from Canonical (Ubuntut)and Red Hat (RHEL).

If you are interested in finding out more you can sign up to get regular updates as the project moves forward.