Until now, Apache Hadoop has been a Linux-only affair. However, Hortonworks has released a beta version of Hadoop that runs on Windows, and they’ve released the code for the Windows port back to the open source project as well.
According to Hortonworks’ Shaun Connolly, the release is aimed at enterprises that “are integrating Hadoop into their broader enterprise data architecture, and they want to preserve their existing investment and skill sets.”
Hortonworks also offers big data tools that run in cloud computing environments, including Microsoft Azure.
