If you are unfamiliar with AlmaLinux OS, it has a very interesting origin story. It is essentially a clone of CentOS. Yes, the same CentOS Linux distro that was is developed by Red Hat. Back in December 2020, Red Hat revealed it was not going to focus on CentOS Linux anymore, instead turning to CentOS Stream. CentOS was supposed to be the rebuilt version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) but the company changed track. The decision annoyed users running CentOS, but a savior was on the horizon. CloudLinux – one of the biggest commercial distributors of CentOS – said it would build a cloud of the distro. That clone was AlmaLinux, which is now coming to Microsoft Azure. I told you it was an interesting origin.
Details
Aside from the good news of a release on Azure, it gets even better because CloudLinux costs the grand sum of zero. While it is not abnormal for a Linux distro to be free, there is some surprise considering CloudLinux has been providing RHEL/Cent OS server clones for over a decade. On the Azure marketplace, CloudLinux describes AlmaLinux OS in the following way: “AlmaLinux OS is the only 100% community owned and governed, open source, and forever-free, enterprise-grade Linux distribution based on RHEL. Focused on long-term stability and providing a robust platform, AlmaLinux is 1:1 binary compatible with RHEL. Users and developers count on AlmaLinux as the platform to power all their workloads in the cloud and beyond.” It is worth pointing out Red Hat has not abandoned CentOS, it is just now different and approaches the company’s RHEL platform differently. Known as CentOS Stream, tracks in front of the current RHEL version as a developer/preview release. Tip of the day: Windows Aero Shake is a handy feature that lets you quickly reduce screen clutter with a shake of an app’s title bar. Doing so minimizes all windows other than the one in focus, allowing you to focus solely on what’s at hand. Another wiggle lets you undo Aero Shake, maximizing the other Windows again so you can continue working. Unfortunately, the feature can also have unintended consequences. Those who move their windows about or have dual monitors may notice that they’re accidentally activating Windows shaking. Luckily, enabling or disabling Aero shake isn’t too hard.
