Microsoft ‘Poaches’ Top Linux Executive From Oracle

One of Oracle’s top Linux engineers has reportedly left Larry Ellison and joined Microsoft to start work in the company’s cloud division.

Wim Coekaerts, now an ex-Oracle senior vice presidet of Linux and Virtualisation Engineering, will work on buffing up Microsoft’s open source wares, the company told ZDNet.

Coekaerts confirmed his departure from Oracle on his Twitter account March 20, but did not reveal his destination.

“It’s been an incredibly awesome 21yrs,” he wrote.“So much respect for mgmt&team- what we all accomplished! Just amazing. Time for a new exciting adventure.”

Oracle declined to comment, while Microsoft had not yet to responded to TechWeekEurope’s requests at the time of publication.

Corp VP of Open Source

A spokesperson for Microsoft told ZDNet: “Wim Coekaerts has joined Microsoft as Corp VP of Open Source in our Enterprise Cloud Group.

“As we continue to deepen our commitment to open source, Wim will focus on deepening our engagement, contributions and innovation to the open-source community.”

Coekaerts started at Oracle in 1995, and worked on many projects instrumental in helping Oracle tap into Linux and Open Source technology. The hire speaks volumes about Microsoft’s reshuffle of its top priorities, as the company looks to pitch its Azure cloud against market leader Amazon Web Services.

Known as ‘Mr Linux’, Coekaerts was instrumental in moving Oracle’s programming staff from Windows to Linux desktops, ZDNet claimed. This expertise will be crucial for Microsoft as it looks to offer Azure services across both Windows and Linux.

Microsoft last week made Linux a highlight of its annual Build conference, announcing that it’s launching the Linux Bash shell command line on Windows 10, and partnering with Canonical to bring ‘Ubuntu on Windows’ to its operating system.

“The Bash shell is coming to Windows. Yes, the real Bash is coming to Windows,” exclaimed Microsoft’s Kevin Gallo at during the Build 2016 keynote. The new features will arrive with the Anniversary Update to Windows 10 due this summer.

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