Dive Brief:

• Microsoft announced a service that aims to make it easier to get up and running with containers, according to Geekwire.

• The company points to Azure Container Instances as a simple and efficient way get containers in the cloud. It is also designed to free up developers from navigating virtual machine infrastructure. 

• Microsoft also announced it is joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, an organization that oversees the open source Kubernetes container orchestration project, as a platinum member.

Dive Insight:

Microsoft's relationship with open source communities has historically been rocky. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once compared Linux to "communism" and a "cancer."

But in the past few years, Microsoft has become much more willing to work with open source vendors. Last fall, Microsoft surprised many when it joined The Linux Foundation as a platinum member.

The move is also notable because Kubernetes was originally developed inside Google. Google donated Kubernetes to the CNCF in 2015.

Companies like Microsoft are welcoming open source in hopes of attracting more large business customers. The move also signals a shift away from purely proprietary models for the technology giants, with increased focus on collaboration to help advance technological innovation.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is now the only major cloud company that hasn't joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, likely because AWS offers its own service for container orchestration.