> 1. It's general purpose in that it is designed to be used to deliver any application software

FWIW, it's only the HN title and this article that calls this new distribution "general-purpose". Microsoft themselves say that this the distribution is "Purpose-Built for Azure" (https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/linuxandopensourceb...), I'm not sure how the author got it wrong.

>OK, so this is important not because it comes from Microsoft.

No, it IS important because it comes from Microsoft.

>If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won. - Linus Torvalds

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine this would happen. Microsoft spent a decade trying to kill Linux via SCO lawfare. Linux has won. Microsoft is completely and utterly defeated.