Has Linux Conquered the Cloud?

Perhaps the real indicator for long-term cloud dominance is what is driving customers to select Linux. Linux and open source really are driving movement away from proprietary software, according to Open Source Storage founder Eren Niazi. "The first to market usually gets the control. Linux was the first platform in the clouds. Linux developers already have the cloud space controlled pretty well."

Linux on the desktop may have missed its adoption time line, but Linux in the cloud is a win-win proposition for the post-PC movement.

Linux shows signs that it is the go-to cloud platform. Microsoft's Azure may be the only real threat to Linux cloud dominance -- all other major cloud software platforms are based on Linux and open source software.

Some enterprise Linux distros are showing up as cloud-based offerings. It is becoming very common to find options to run Ubuntu, CentOS, Suse Linux Enterprise Server and openSuse offered on cloud platforms. Even better for Linux fans is that Microsoft includes openSuse as an option to run on its own Azure platform.

"Linux has already conquered the public cloud. With the exception of Azure, all of the other dominant public clouds run both compute and storage on Linux. And for virtual machines running in the cloud, it's all Linux, including Azure," Ross Turk, vice president of community at Inktank, told LinuxInsider.

The only challenge left for Linux to fully conquer the cloud is in the private and hybrid sectors. Private cloud technology like OpenStack is pushing Linux kernel-based virtual machines, or KVMs, on the compute side and challenging VMware's position, asserted Turk.

"However, when you consider the entire cloud -- compute, work and storage -- open source still needs to win on the storage and networking side," he said.

Storage is the last bastion of proprietary technology in the data center. It accounts for a very large portion of IT spending. However, Linux has disrupted the operating system and database markets with its benefits of cost savings, no vendor lock-in and rapid innovation.

"These all have been monumental in its rise to dominance, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the rest of the cloud," said Turk.

The fight for cloud supremacy may be done and won. Especially for providers, the bottom line is Linux, according to Ryan Koop, director of products and marketing at CohesiveFT.

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Has Linux Conquered the Cloud?