Top 25 Hottest Open-Source Projects at Microsoft Codeplex

willdavid writes "Via CNet, a link to a blog post with the top 25 most active open-source projects on Microsoft's Codeplex site. As the CNet blogger notes, 'Codeplex is interesting to me for several reasons, but primarily because it demonstrates something that I've argued for many years now: open source on the Windows platform is a huge opportunity for Microsoft. It is something for the company to embrace, not despise.'"

Comments

Re:How appropriate

[krbvroc1]

That joke sucks every single time. Not when I see the curiously intriguing 'Microsoft' and 'Open Source' in the same article. Overriding my temptation to skip the article I force myself to read the post, my bullshit/FUD detectors engaged, only to be rewarded with 'Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.'. It was quite an emotional roller coaster. An anti-climatic ending rivaled only Fable.

Re:Open source projects?

[Osty]

One things is for sure - they all rely on proprietary Microsoft produts (.Net, sharepoint, SQL server, etc) to run. They're not particularly useful to the Open Source community, just the Microsoft community. (In Debian, they would sit in the non-free repositorty).

I think you've confused the "Open Source community" with the "Linux community". While there's a fair amount of overlap, "Open Source" does not imply simply Linux.

Oh - and Open Source? Pah-lease. A license that governs USE of the software sounds neither permissive nor open:

The Ms-PL and Ms-CL have been submitted to OSI for approval. We'll have to wait and see if the OSI decides they're not compatible with Open Source licenses.

Also, way to be reactive. All software licenses govern use of said software, where "use" includes the usage of the source code for the software (if you read the license, it says nothing about how you may actually run the licensed software). In the case of an open source license like BSD, the only governance in place is the requirement to retain copyright information when modifying and redistributing the source. The GPL goes further and requires that you retain the same license for any derived work (the "viral" nature of the GPL) and that you must make source available. The Ms-PL has a BSD-like copyright restriction with a GPL-like license restriction (you must use the MS-PL license for any derived works with published source code, though you may publish binaries under a separate license without publishing source) and a patent revocation clause in case you sue. That may or may not fit the requirements for OSI-certification as an open source license, but it's still a very relaxed license.

Fanatical Disclaimer

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi, I'm twitter. You might now me because I've posted over seven thousand times on Slashdot. While the post above this one might convey a feeling of anger and outrage, it's really just me venting my weird obsession with Microsoft. I haven't used Microsoft products since 1996, and so I wouldn't really know how anything in that environment works at all.

I use terms like "M$" and "Windoze" because I believe that they're clever, and Netcraft confirms that cleverness scores people mod points around here, although it doesn't always work.

As always, I shall ignore people who reply to me to point out I am overreacting or just flapping uselessly in the wind. I find reason and logic to be inconvenient in my quest to convince the world that they must switch to free software or suffer the consequences. I consider myself an "evangelist" and I believe people should put up with me because I Am Right.

But, I urge you to just use your head when reading my posts. Most of what I say can safely be discarded as sophomoric fluff designed to bring out the worse in people. Make your own choices about technology and be smart.

Thanks.

Re:Close mindedness.

[killjoe]

It's important to remember that anybody who says anything negative about MS is by definition a kook or insane.

Microsoft Corporation rules, it's the best corporation on the planet bar none. Corporations rock!

Re:How appropriate

[corifornia]

That response sucks every time.