Live data from Hacker News

Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

build5nines.com

291–300 of 348 posts

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#291
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows came from the single-user domain. Unix came from server space. It is literally two different evolutionary paths. From day-1, Unix was built for shared file systems, multi-user accounts, and distributed computing. Networking on Microsoft was an afterthought until the mid-90's. Sure there were token ring and banyan vines drivers in the late 80's early 90's, but that was to share a drive letter. The entire idea…

Lots of FUD and misunderstanding going on there. Windows NT, which is what everyone uses, is a descendant of VMS design and culture, built for shared file systems, multi-user accounts, and distributed computing just like UNIX.

GP is unfair in as you say, NT was a from-the-ground-up new OS based on VMS design without the single-user baggage of old DOS/Windows.

But still for a long time Windows NT made a lot of concessions to the single-GUI-user model that UNIXes didn't, like putting font rendering in the kernel.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#292
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always got the feeling that MS specific developers are highly visual studio oriented This and the rest of your post is about one specific kind of developer, and I honestly wonder how you can think that's it.. Lack of experience or just bad luck and only ever met this kind perhaps? Anyway while I know for a fact these exist, your feeling is sort of wrong in that there are also developers who just use VS as the ID…

One example, when you install many applications, even automated via cli, it will open a gui progress bar. Python used to do this, it still may.

If the gui doesn't actually require interaction that doesn't really matter, does it? But most installations have a silent mode where they do not show a gui. All of the aforementioned applications are installed like that (inluding Miniconda i.e. Python), as is common when installing via package management in Powershell.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#293
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just makes sense to run a server OS that works well and is full-featured when there is no GUI.

You know, I was thinking this, but honestly how much overhead is the Windows GUI when no one is logged into it? I know it's not nothing, but I suspect it's not that much, is it?

It's not the resource but the cognitive load is so high when you have to click little parts and you can only interact as good as what the UI offers.

Apparently Windows is human first which isn't what servers are meant to be.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just makes sense to run a server OS that works well and is full-featured when there is no GUI.

You don't want to know how many RHEL servers are out-there running a gui...

As many as wannabe sys admins.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#295

I had to move from Digital Ocean to Azure recently because my customers didn't know DO and thought they can't trust them. I was super happy with DO though. Azure is the ridiculously expensive without bringing any benefit. Sure, there are client tools but I don't need them. It seems to me every click I do on the Azure portal makes the costs increase by a few euros. I wish Digital Ocean would be accepted by more corpor…

Not just expensive but the Azure web interface is a huge maze that I cannot even simply find out last month's cost breakdown in minutes. That was so much like Windows messed up UI, it wasn't funny.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see the benefits of Linux, I'm just wondering why host it on Azure.

Depends on your situation. If you're already in bed with Microsoft, the support you get is pretty damn nice, and surprised me a lot. A client of mine, a large multinational's overall corporate IT is very much Microsoft oriented, but I was working together with an R&D division, setting up a Linux/k8s-based proof of concept project. Somehow, the Azure team got wind of this and asked if we could meet. I expected absolut…

Interesting, so it's really the enterprise sales process greasing the wheels the way it always has.

Google didn't even respond.

That's very telling.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#297
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of FUD and misunderstanding going on there. Windows NT, which is what everyone uses, is a descendant of VMS design and culture, built for shared file systems, multi-user accounts, and distributed computing just like UNIX.

GP is unfair in as you say, NT was a from-the-ground-up new OS based on VMS design without the single-user baggage of old DOS/Windows. But still for a long time Windows NT made a lot of concessions to the single-GUI-user model that UNIXes didn't, like putting font rendering in the kernel.

Except for UNIXes like NeXTSTEP and Sun NeWS, as no other UNIX ever had any clue about GUI development, as Jobs used to say.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> RegEdit, is there a text version for that? Uhm, in Powershell: PS C:\Users\zb3> cd hklm: PS HKLM:\> (you are now in the registry local machine hive)

It's just that I have a hard time believing that three or four years of development for administrating windows through text is equivalent to 30 years development for administrating Unix through a CLI.

In many ways it's much better. There is a consistent interface over everything. Whereas on my Unix boxes my ~/.ssh/config file looks completely different to my Apache config.

Also I get much more fine grained control over permissions in the registry, right down to individual keys. Try doing that when your config is in a text file.

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#299
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I was thinking this, but honestly how much overhead is the Windows GUI when no one is logged into it? I know it's not nothing, but I suspect it's not that much, is it?

It's not the resource but the cognitive load is so high when you have to click little parts and you can only interact as good as what the UI offers. Apparently Windows is human first which isn't what servers are meant to be.

You don't have to click little parts, you can use Powershell :-)

Re: Linux is Most Used OS in Microsoft Azure – over 50 percent of VM cores

#300

I'm interested to know what the majority of the Windows machines are used for. I can't think it'd be anything other than 'big enterprise' applications, where there seems to be a lot of bespoke stuff built specifically for Windows Server (e.g. finance software, healthcare systems, marriage registration, taxi licensing, nursing home management, etc). Unfortunately this sort of stuff is fairly rare to be available in th…

A few use cases come to mind: - Microsoft often bundles discounts for their their desktop and server licenses (used for AD and such) with Azure credits. Managers are under pressure to use the free service to deliver value, so teams are told to spin up things in azure as they see fit. reject the credits and reject the discount for the stuff you do use. - Office 365, Outlook, Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Video, the Micros…

Office 365, Outlook and Xbox Live definitely aren't run on Azure.
Post reply on HN