<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Gigaom]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://gigaom.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Barb Darrow]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[http://search.gigaom.com/author/barbdarrow/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Microsoft embraces Python, Linux in new big data tools]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Continuing its <a href="https://gigaom.com/2012/06/07/microsoft-paints-azure-with-open-source-brush/">quest to make Microsoft Azure comfy for the non-Windows world</a>, Microsoft just launched a preview of its Hadoop-based cloud tool (HDInsight) that runs on Linux. It&#8217;s also making its Azure ML machine learning service widely available now with new support for Python as well as the already-planned support for the popular R language. <a href="https://gigaom.com/2015/01/23/microsoft-buys-data-science-specialist-revolution-analytics/">Microsoft bought Revolution Analytics</a>, the company behind a commercial version of R, last month.</p>
<p>Azure HDInsight is thus &#8220;Microsoft&#8217;s first fully Linux-based service for big data,&#8221; Joseph Sirosh, Microsoft&#8217;s corporate VP of machine learning, said in an interview. Microsoft says 20 percent of all VMs running on Azure run Linux.</p>
<p>Asked if he sees any open-source oriented developers still wary of using Microsoft&#8217;s cloud, Sirosh said the perception of Microsoft as a Windows-only company is fading. &#8220;There is a new breed of developers [who want] to leverage features &#8230; whether they are Linux- or Windows-based is becoming less important,&#8221; he said. With cloud services, &#8220;you really don’t have to know a lot about deep inner details to use these services.&#8221;</p>
<p>Azure ML&#8217;s embrace of Python also shows just how popular that language has become and that <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/microsoft/">Microsoft</a> Azure is building on its promise of language agnosticism. &#8220;Python has become the number one language of choice for developers. We can now claim to be the most comprehensive analytics service &#8212; no other product lets you integrate SQL, R and Python into one project,&#8221; Sirosh said.</p>
<div id="attachment_905099" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 804px"><a href="https://gigaom.com/2015/01/08/microsoft-unveils-azure-key-vault-and-big-strong-servers/satya-nadella-cloud/" rel="attachment wp-att-905099"><img  src="https://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/satya-nadella-cloud.jpg?quality=80&#038;strip=all&#038;w=804&#038;h=533" alt="Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella." width="804" height="533" data-attribution="Microsoft" class=" aligncenter" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella</p></div>
<p>Microsoft is also making <a href="https://storm.apache.org/">Storm</a>, the open-source stream analytics tool, available for HDInsight with support for both .NET and Java. The company already offered <a href="http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/stream-analytics/">Azure Stream Analytics</a> and will continue to sell, support and upgrade that as well. Storm is another option, Sirosh said.</p>
<p>In the massive public cloud infrastructure arena, Microsoft must contend with <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/amazon/">Amazon</a> Web Services and <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/google/">Google</a> Cloud Platform, both of which are targeting developers with fancy analytics and other services. I agree with Sirosh that Microsoft has done a good job of embracing open-source frameworks and languages in Azure. But the perception, especially among young startups, of Microsoft as a Windows-and-Office-first monolith dies hard.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll be sure to ask Sirosh more about how Microsoft Azure can win over startups as well as big business accounts when we&#8217;re on stage next month at <a href="https://events.gigaom.com/structuredata-2015/">Structure Data</a>.</p>
<p><em>This story was updated at 10:05 a.m. PST to reflect Microsoft&#8217;s assertion that 20 percent of all VMs on Azure run Linux</em></p>
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