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Microsoft Finally Certifies an Open Source Web App
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has caught up with the fact that open source web-based software exists, today announcing an open source project written in PHP is the first 'Certified for Windows' software that (a) follows an OSI-approved license and (b) runs via a webserver rather than operating as a native Windows executable.
The software in question is SilverStripe CMS, free software released under a BSD license, that is used to build and manage websites. Certification entails a third-party performing various tests and audits on the software and giving it the green light. If other open source projects can follow suit, this will be another step in getting business folk to see that open source is ready for enterprise use. And heck, maybe even a .NET application could now seek to be certified!"
Maybe someday Apache on Linux will be the most popular web server, and HP, IBM, Oracle, and the other big companies will start offering Linux solutions!
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
And heck, maybe even a .NET application could now seek to be certified!
.NET applications have been certified for years. Spend a couple of minutes on Google and you will find examples for both the server platform and the desktop edition.
As for SilverStripe, I imagine the reason that open source software would be rare on the list of certified products is that there are costs involved with doing it, and the kind of audience who generally use open souce products probably don't care a damn about any official "certified" logo.
Its great to see that Open Source applications are being reconized by Microsoft. I just hope people don't take these certifications too seriously. I don't have experience in an enterprise setting, but do companies not use a certain software because its not certified my Microsoft? I would assume that the software that best suits your needs would be chosen, not the one that has the title of "Microsoft Certified" because it happened to be tested by third-party tests.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -- Isaac Asimov
Has anyone found the way to check if applications are certified? I saw one for Windows 7, but not for Server 2008. I'm wondering if PHP is certified, because if it isn't, Microsoft is essentially saying "only use PHP if you are using SilverStripe CMS."
A cookie goes to the slashdotter that can find a exploitable vulnerability in it.
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Certification entails a third-party performing various tests and audits on the software and giving it the green light. If other open source projects can follow suit, this will be another step in getting business folk to see that open source is ready for enterprise use.
No, it's not. The tech savvy business people already know and those who don't get it will continue to not get it. Remember, there were people who insisted on buying IBM computers even after the Lenovo deal, because that's how PHBs and suits think.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
This is wrong. Wix was first, even announced here on slashdot.
http://wix.sourceforge.net/
fyi. Wix is a xml+binaries to msi packager.
An open source developer has finally bothered to go through the (pointless) "Certified for Windows" process. Is it a reflection on Microsoft that this is the first certified OS project, or a reflection on the OS community? I think the latter is more likely.
How many "open source web apps" have been submitted and failed certification and been rejected?
Microsoft doesn't proactively certify software, the developer of the software has to request certification. The headline makes it sound like Microsoft has been dragging their feet trying to avoid certifying such an app, but if this is the first ever submission, then they've certified 100% of applicants.
This a defiantly a big step in the right direction for Microsoft, hopefully this will help some of those old business folk to see the light of open source.
This is surprising news for me as I have been a SilverStripe developer for a couple years now at my primary job. In case anyone is wondering, SilverStripe is a wonderful little enterprise class CMS. Miles ahead in my opinion of the usual suspects in this area ( Drupal, Joomla, WordPress). The real story here is why a small BSD licensed CMS written on the LAMP stack wants to be certified by Microsoft! I guess they want the publicity. But seriously, If you are a php developer looking for a good Object Oriented CMS written is PHP5, you should really take a couple days and check it out. You might really like it. It's not perfect by any stretch, a tad over-engineered, but did I mention it's miles ahead of everything else which calls itself a php5 CMS? Miles.
welcome silverstripe, bye bye silverlight..
php and not asp???
Come on, there must be a catch. :P
Silverstripe is quite probably the best CMS in php. I'm using it since a coupe of years and I really like. I'm happy i could ditch Drupal and Joomla wich were nightmares for my clients. Now my clients are just impressed by the product as well :)
How many applications have Apple personally certified that they work well on Mac? Or Canonical for Ubuntu? Oh right, they don't.
Microsoft does many things wrong, but I like how this is something Microsoft does. An application doesn't have to be certified to run, but at least you know it has gone through numerous tests if it is, such as so that it doesn't demand admin rights and use the system in inappropriate ways.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
lets show everyone how meaningless this certification is and how powerful open source can be by finding as many bugs and exploits as possible in this software.
It's always dangerous to claim you're the first.
http://buytaert.net/microsoft-and-drupal (2007): "Last week at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON), Microsoft and SpikeSource announced their intention to work together to certify a number of Open Source projects on the Microsoft Windows platform. According to the press release, Drupal is the first application that has been tested and certified for Microsoft Windows ..."
See also http://www.microsoft.com/web/drupal/
I have worked with SilverStripe CMS, I have looked under it's hood, and I have to say that I prefer something else.
It's too big and a bit over-engineered for my taste, doing some things took quite a lot of thinking, like custom-styled forms for example.
Usage of Prototype JavaScript library and the datamodel also scare me away from SilverStripe.
That was a year ago. Who knows, maybe SilverStripe has changed for the better?
Congratulations on the certificate, though.
The post is wrong - with all due respect.
... Microsoft has not "caught up" with anything. And there are already a lot of certified .NET apps that run in a browser. No big deal. Anybody can start a Microsoft certification process and the bulk of the cost goes to external testing companies.
Microsoft does not "certify" 3rd party software in any way. They document/specify HOW to get a product certified. It is up to the vendors (Microsoft Partners) to do the testing and certification if they feel it brings them business value. The certification itself is typically conducted by external companies such as Veritest/[url:lionbridge.com] (now one company).
You can pretty much sign up as a Microsoft partner on "Registered Partner Level" for 0 USD and start the cerification process. Or spend 100 USD on a BizSpark package and get 2 years license to Visual Studio and all the MS-stuff you need to get going. The biggest cost is the actual verification by the external testing company - Microsoft is not making any money from the certification process. Their goal is to provide a method by which a software vendor can demonstrate microsoft-compliance for their product. And show that compliance by using a logo.
In short: Anybody who feels up to it can start certifying any FOSS software that runs on a Windows box. Feel like certifying WINE? Go right ahead. Think ClamWin should have the "Works with Windows 7" logo? Go for it - the community will probably gladly help. Think the official "Certified for Windows 2008 Server" logo would look nice on the webpage of Squeezebox Server (former "Slim Server"). Download the source and get started - perhaps Logitec will help you out with resources if you ask them - and be sure to brush up on your Perl skills before your start.
So no
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
I think I hear Admiral Ackbar calling.
"While there are hundreds of other content management systems available under the more restrictive GPL license, SilverStripe is .. the only advanced CMS available under the BSD license "
.. the GPL, they'd be obligated to publish all their custom code if they want to distribute their product. But this would mean giving away their competitive advantage, which they may not want to do"
"We've chosen the BSD license because it's the best possible license for our customers. For example, some of our larger customers are developing unique and novel solutions on top of SilverStripe and are integrating SilverStripe deep into their product offerings. Under
"We believe that having loads of happy customers is better for our business than relying on a restrictive licensing model"
Please don't use GPL code ;)
free software released under a BSD license,
Ho ho HO! I see what you did there.
Wake me up when they certify something under GPL.
Microsoft actually lost a golden opportunity when (t)hey treated open source the way they did....
Microsoft on the other hand, decided to try to destroy open source and bury it like it did with other companies....
All of them are dead set against Microsoft and no amount of certification is going to change that now.
Anyone who suggests, believes or tries to state the above is not true, needs to research the facts as many of us have...they are out there if you care to look for them. I understand that some do not.
Pretty much sums it up and hits the nail on the head for my friends and I.
I have yet to see a single company that has done business with Microsoft, except perhaps a couple of hardware manufacturers (but even they are unhappy and complain from time to time) that are still viable businesses after 2, 3 or 4 years.
Instead of buying the marketing hype, there are a number of us that refuse to purchase anything from Microsoft until they have, by their actions, not miss-behaved towards open source, FOSS, Linux for a minimum of 7 years. If after a 7 year positive track record they have stopped the FUD, ceased their Embrace, Extend, Extinguish business practices than and only than will we once again consider their products. Any of their products.
We call it setting our 7 year clock!
Any company that treats open source, FOSS, Linux poorly gets a clock set. For first time offenders, a 3 Year Clock is sufficient, however for a company like Microsoft that has continued their awful business practices against open source, FOSS, Linux, etc... for more than 15 years, well 3 years is simply not sufficient, thus a 7 YEAR CLOCK is more appropriate.
They can lie, deceive, etc...with marketing and words, but they can not hide their actions. And they do try to hide them, don't they, but eventually it all comes out into the light of day. Yes, it always comes out eventually. When you become aware of it, right there and then, re-set your 7 YEAR CLOCK! Its long past time for them to walk the walk. I just do not see it happening.
Each time they act badly, I reset my 7 year clock. It is that simple.
Whether I purchase another Microsoft product is up to them. Its up to them to re-earn my TRUST!
For those that think 7 years is too harsh, sorry your wrong. Microsoft specifically, has been at this for over two decades and many of us KNOW IT!
. . . is 7 years enough time considering how long they have been at it?
They say they care about TRUST, but they do not. They prove it by their very ACTIONS. At the end of the day, their words mean nothing. Well they lost allot of our TRUST over the years...shock us and actually try to earn it back. I dare you.
Trust, it was theirs to lose and lose they did.
I challenge all supporters of Open Source, FOSS, to join us in our 7 YEAR CLOCK.
Consider this, if a company knew that a large block of developers, those of us that live on the bleeding edge, would boycott their products for a period of 3 years at the slightest transgression, do you think they would dare, of course not. They can only continue such negative practices if you let them...if you continue to purchase their products. You are basically saying, yea we know you are giving us one up the back side, but we don't care, we will keep taking it.
I do not think so! Enough is enough.
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I would see your security hole and raise you two or three more for a variety of MS Products. You would always lose.
Next time someone says something you use has a security hole, check and see if it states that "local access" is required for the exploit. If so, what are you getting excited about...you giving black hatters the keys to your home/apartment/business? I certainly hope not.
There will always be security holes. Fools automatically update to supposedly avoid them. Intelligent IT professionals look into the nature of the security holes and determine if they are viable in their environment or not before upgrading. Its the way it always has been, is and always will be.
Only those that are unable to understand what the security issues are, automatically (read blindly) update without understanding what the real issues are and if they even apply or not.
More often than not, more problems are introduced than are fixed.
More importantly true experts do not settle for security by obscurity, if given the choice. Whether they have the choice or not is usually the telling part of whether someone is respected by their chain of command or not.
Blindly upgrading, updating, auto-updating is insane . . . and a sign of desperation, to be avoided at all costs.
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Do this mean it's compatible with all current viruses?