Comment by skreutzer
8 years ago
Thanks to the work of projects like Debian, for some 20 years now people have the right and ability to run a computer in freedom, and there's little point for Microsoft to compete on the consumer/Desktop OS sector any more (compare to mobile, web, Apple, etc.). What do you think what they're competing over now? Imagine if Azure integration starts to appear in FLOSS, because it's an online/hosting service and the "Open Source" guys don't care much about SaaSS and don't favor the AGPL.
The main Azure integration in Debian is supporting use of Debian in and with Azure, just like they're supporting every other environment in which one might want to run the Universal Operating System (that's Debian's longstanding tagline). Including physical ones, with no plans to change that.
I agree it's important to be able to Debian in the environment of your choice. That includes Azure as well as self-hosted and small-hosting-company options.