Microsoft has announced that it will support for Docker in its next version of Windows Server. Docker which provides a so called container virtualization solution currently receives a lot of support from developers using the technology to deploy their software. Docker provides so called container virtualization, allowing an application and its dependencies to run as an isolated process inside a virtual environment. This environment is then portable from local computers to backend infrastructure and cloud.
Microsoft already supported running Docker apps on its Linux VM’s running in Azure. The Docker Engine for Windows Server will be developed as a Docker open source project, with Microsoft participating as an active community member. Microsoft through its MS Open Tech initiative will also contribute code to the Docker Client allowing provisioning of multi-container Docker applications on Azure. Also the Docker Hub will be integrated into the Azure Gallery and Management Portal.
Its interesting to note that Microsoft appearantly is also working on its own container virtualization solution, called Drawbridge as reported earlier by Mary Jo Foley from ZDnet. Also Azure CTO Mark Russinovich expressed some concerns about security when using container virtualization. Seems like Microsoft decided to start supporting Docker due to its high popularity and in order to stay relevant on that front.