Microsoft's Code Contribution Due To GPL Violation

ozmanjusri writes "While Microsoft presented its recent embrace of the GPL as 'a break from the ordinary,' and the press spoke of them as going to great lengths to engage the open source community,' as is often the case with Microsoft, it turns out they had an ulterior motive. According to Stephen Hemminger, an engineer with Vyatta, Microsoft's Hyper-V used open-source components in a network driver and the company released the code to avoid legal action over a GPL violation. Microsoft's decision to embrace the GPL was welcomed by many in the open source community, but their failure to honestly explain the reason behind the release will have squandered this opportunity to build trust, something which is sadly lacking in most people's dealings with Microsoft."

Comments

Extraoridnary lengths

[Junior J. Junior III]

For Microsoft, complying with the law *is* going to extraordinary lengths to engage with the open source community.

Re:Makes the GPL real in their eyes.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure we're talking about MS (www.getthefacts.com) and not about sex education (www.getthefacts.org).