Microsoft Data Science VM now available as a Linux instance

Microsoft's Linux Data Science Virtual Machine is now available for use on the Azure Marketplace. Like the Windows-based instance of the Data Science VM, this pre-built system based on Linux CentOS 7.2 includes all the tools you'll need to analyze data, including Microsoft R Open, Anaconda Python, Jupyter Notebooks and a PostgreSQL database instance. It also includes a suite of machine learning tools, including connectors to the Azure Machine Learning framework.

For R developers, Emacs Speaks Statistics is bundled with the VM. You can also use RStudio as your R IDE, simply by running the provided script to install it. (There's also a script to easily install popular R packages.)

You'll need an Azure account to use the Linux Data Science VM (if you don't have one, a 30-day Azure free trial is available). With that set up, it takes just 15 minutes to get your own data science VM running in Azure, which you can then log into from your desktop and use with full administrative rights. You can install data and software, analyze data, and pause the VM at any time: you will only be charged for active usage, and there are no additional software charges on top of the basic Azure infrastucture fees (which vary by your choice of number of cores, and memory, disk, and networking speeds). To see the pricing options and to launch a VM, visit the Linux Data Science Virtual Machine page in the Azure Marketplace, or for more details check out the blog post linked below.

Cortana Intelligence and Machine Learning Blog: Announcing the Availability of the Linux Data Science Virtual Machine