Microsoft Corp., has just added support for managing Docker containers in its Azure cloud, with the help of the open-source Kubernetes tool that was designed and built by rival Google Inc. For two companies that are so often at odds with each other, it’s a move that might raise a few eyebrows.

The coolest aspect of Microsoft’s implementation of Kubernetes is the way users will be able to interact with it. The Azure team has built an interactive dashboard that displays a visual representation of the Kubernetes architecture. Called the Azure Kubernetes Visualizer project, the visualizer is designed to make it “easier to experiment and learn with Kubernetes on Azure”, says Microsoft. It’s devoted an entire blog post to the visualizer here, while its code is freely available on GitHub.

Now that Azure supports both Docker and Kubernetes, it’s possible to build both types of containers on Azure’s storage service, and deploy, configure and update clusters using those container images (either hosted on Azure or the main Docker hub).

Kubernetes has come on rapidly in the short time since Google first announced the open-source project, gaining support from companies like IBM Corp., Red Hat Inc., and even VMware. That’s great news for Docker Inc., and the Docker project, and will appeal to developers who appreciate the ability to easily switch between platforms while retaining the same general experience of launching and managing applications. As for the vendors it makes whatever competitive advantages they have appear less like avenues for lock-in, meaning developers may give weight to other factors like performance and price when choosing a cloud.

As far as Google and Microsoft are concerned, any support for Kubernetes can only be a good thing. Both companies remain fixated on stealing market share from Amazon Web Services, which has dominated the cloud since 2006. They might have lost out with the current generation of developers, but if projects like Kubernetes truly take off, they could easily win over the next generation and then the cloud computing landscape would look very different indeed.

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