Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache Foundation

Posted by timothy on Friday July 25, 2008 @10:09AM from the could-be-the-largest-free-software-vendor dept.

Penguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll release Vista under a GPL license anytime soon, this is certainly an unexpected series of moves on their part, and could possibly lead to more OSS (as opposed to 'Shared Source') interactivity between what is arguably Linux' greatest adversary and the Open Source community." (We mentioned the announced support for the Apache Foundation earlier today, as well.)

2 of 425 comments (clear)

$100K USD a year by nurb432 · 2008-07-25 13:10 · Score: 1, Troll

Is nothing.
Its a cheap 'feel good' advertisement for them, nothing more.

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---- Booth was a patriot ----
Re:Perhaps they ARE starting to see the light. by Yvan256 · 2008-07-25 15:15 · Score: 1, Troll

I said "my point of view". I don't care if IBM are the biggest Linux vendors of the universe, I don't see anything labeled "IBM" in my computer room.
Regular people don't use IBM products, even if companies do. And that's my point. One day, Microsoft might become as irrelevant to home users as IBM.