Microsoft Flirts with Open Source

Vin Daryl writes "ZDNet reports on Microsoft's love-hate relationship with open-source software." From the article: "The interoperability lab focuses on getting products from open-source ISVs such as JBoss, to work on the Microsoft platform, he said. 'For example, we often collaborate with JBoss, but in certain areas we might compete with them. It's competition and cooperation,' Hilf explained. 'Over time, as you see the open-source marketplace maturing and becoming more commercial, I think you'll see more of that kind of dynamics. It's not something that's unique to Microsoft,' he said, adding that IBM and Oracle also compete, and at the same time, cooperate with open-source vendors. "

Comments

Re:Not really

[amliebsch]

Microsoft has in fact open-sourced its own work from time to time. See, e.g., WiX.

Microsoft is Open-Sourcing its own work

[oliverthered]

Microsoft have open sources a lot of their work, you can even get to look at Windows code if you pay them.

Just the other day I was looking at the Enterprise Library for .NET Framework 2.0-January and guess what:

Source code. Installing Enterprise Library places source code for the application blocks, configuration console, and QuickStarts into the installation directory. To execute the QuickStarts or the Enterprise Library tools, you must first build the Enterprise Library source code. For instructions about how to build Enterprise Library, see "Building the Enterprise Library" in the documentation.

So Microsoft does do open source, just not the kind of open source most in the FOSS community (including myself) would like to see.

Re:Microsoft is Open-Sourcing its own work

[AuMatar]

Microsoft's Shared Source license is NOT an Open Source License. Its lacking several key parts, including the ability to modify the code and the ability to share it.

Re:Not really

[frank_adrian314159]

Microsoft Research is also the primary party responsible for GHC, the Glasgow Haskell Compiler.

That's because they bought^Whired Simon Peyton Jones into their British research lab, who was the inventor and primary researcher of Haskell. I doubt they'd cut his work off. If you want to really see what Microsoft wants to do in the functional space, look at LINQ. Simon might dream it in Haskell, but Microsoft is going to make sure it goes into VB.