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Microsoft Finally Certifies an Open Source Web App

Posted by timothy on from the where's-your-hall-pass-professor dept.

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!"

2 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Congratulations SilverStripe? by unbrandy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hi, I'm Brian, the CEO of SilverStripe. Thanks for your kind words; they mean a lot. To your question of "Why?" here's the answer: it helps our business. We have many potential clients who run MS IT infrastructures. If we have this certification that greatly increases the confidence in SilverStripe in the eyes of the decision-makers in these organizations. We did not make this decision lightly. We thought a lot about how this would be perceived in the open source community. All along the way we said we'd back out if we thought our principles were being compromised. I am proud to say that we're happy with the outcome. Microsoft actually helped us (in dev resource time) to get our software to work well on the MS stack. Now we can tell more people we can work in their environment. It's truly as simple as that. :) Hope that answers your question. If anyone reading this wants to follow up, I am my first name at silverstripe dot com Thanks, Brian

  2. Re:Congratulations SilverStripe? by unbrandy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Good point, Westlake. Our open source product and company have the same name. Now, does getting this certification hurt the open source effors we make? Hmmmm. It's a question. We care a lot about our open source community. Truly. We don't take open source lightly. In my opinion, if we can stay true to our open source goals (BSD and listen to community) and be more attractive to clients (so we can pay people to make more open source software) then there's no harm done. I realize this is a touchy area for a lot of people. Hell, if you would have told me a year ago I'd have an ms certified product in a year's time, I would have asked what kind of crack you were smoking. What changed? Understanding who uses our stuff. But that doesn't change our attitude towards open source. In fact, it strengthens prior attitudes. Because the open source ideal must always be protected :) All good, Brian