Article written by David MarshallIt's been quite a number of months since Microsoft first announced its partnership with Docker, the company behind the widely popular open source Docker container platform. At the time, the announcement described a partnership that ensured Docker containers would be able to operate on Linux-based virtual machines in a Microsoft Azure public cloud, and also support Docker's open orchestration APIs and Docker Hub images. The pair followed up that announcement with another partnership that ensured Docker containers would be able to run in Windows Server environments.
Fast forward and the Redmond giant now finds itself back in the container news stream with an equally interesting announcement... but this time, not about Docker but rather its own container platform dubbed Hyper-V Containers. The introduction of Hyper-V Containers comes just weeks ahead of Microsoft's plans to debut the preview of its next version of Windows Server, currently code-named "v.Next."