Finally Microsoft Just Released a Linux Distro

tech industry that many thought they would never see. Microsoft has officially released its own Linux distribution to the public, launching Azure Linux 4.0. For decades, the tech giant treated open source as its absolute enemy, famously calling it a cancer. But in the summer of 2026, the company completely reversed its history, pushing out a downloadable ISO file that anyone can run on a virtual machine. As a cloud infrastructure strategist, I break down why a trillion-dollar company that once tried to strangle Linux is now offering it for free under its own brand name.