Microsoft Ignite 2018 conference coverage

Editor's note

Microsoft continues to gain market momentum fueled in part by an internal culture shift and the growing popularity of the Azure cloud platform that powers the company's popular Office 365 product.

When CEO Satya Nadella took the helm in 2014, he made a concerted effort to turn the company away from its proprietary background to win over developers and enterprises with cloud and DevOps ambitions.

To reinforce this new agenda, Microsoft acquired GitHub, the popular software development platform, for $7.5 billion in June and expanded its developer-friendly offerings in Azure -- from Kubernetes management to a Linux-based distribution for use with IoT devices. But many in IT have long memories and don't easily forget the company's blunders, which can wipe away any measure of good faith at a moment's notice.

PowerShell, the popular automation tool, continues to experience growing pains after Microsoft converted it to an open source project that runs on Linux and macOS systems. As Linux workloads on Azure continue to climb -- around 40% of Azure's VMs run on Linux according to some reports -- and Microsoft releases Linux versions of on-premises software, PowerShell Core is one way Microsoft is addressing the needs of companies with mixed OS environments.

While this past year solidified Microsoft's place in the cloud and open source arenas, Nadella wants the company to remain on the cutting edge and incorporate AI into every aspect of the business. The steady draw of income from its Azure product and Office 365 -- more than 135 million users -- as well as its digital transformation agenda, have proven successful so far. So what's in store for 2019?

This Microsoft Ignite 2018 guide gives you a look at the company's tactics over the past year along with news from the show to help IT pros and administrators prepare for what's coming next on the Microsoft roadmap.