Satan needs a blanket: Could Microsoft release a Linux distro?

Over the last couple of years, Microsoft has increasingly embraced Linux. In times now long past, CEO Steve Ballmer called the open-source operating system a cancer, but these days we're seeing the software giant do a lot of things that were previously unthinkable. So could a Linux distro from Microsoft be a next major step?

ZD Net writer Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols seems to think so. He suggests Microsoft could save money and offer a more stable and secure version of Windows by adopting Linux as the basis of its operating system:

Why do this? Because Microsoft still invests billions in developing Windows, while it brings less and less revenue to company. Remember when Microsoft claimed Windows 10 would have a billion users in a few years? Not happening. Microsoft could save some serious coin by making the Linux kernel the heart of its desktop operating system.

One stumbling block could be software support, but as the author points out, Microsoft could make it possible to run existing Windows software on Linux without major changes. In fact, a lot of the work needed for Windows apps to run without modification on Linux has already been done.