On: A Letter from Tim Cook on Maps

[glhaynes]

Just curious: is that "known as a fact" now? I'd imagine that means that their own data center for iCloud is running Windows Server, too. Which doesn't really seem any less likely in today's world than Linux servers but it would be interesting just in terms of how much you could blow Apple fans' minds if you could travel back 15 years and tell them that.

EDIT: I'm wrong, as pointed out below; Azure isn't just for Windows Server.

[ceejayoz → glhaynes]

You can run Linux in Windows Azure.

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/linux/

[glhaynes → ceejayoz]

I had no idea! Thank you.

[balakk → glhaynes]

Not just that, there are a whole set of Azure storage APIs which are just HTTP/REST.

You could use them from any OS that has a HTTP stack. Apple are probably using just this.

[recoiledsnake → ceejayoz]

Isn't that a very recent feature?

[ceejayoz → recoiledsnake]

As far as I can tell, iCloud and Linux on Azure were both announced in June 2012.