Microsoft Develops New Programming Language For Quantum Computers (cio-today.com)

Microsoft's newest programming language will run on yet-to-be developed quantum computers. An anonymous reader quotes CIO Today: Microsoft said its new quantum computing language, which has yet to be named, is "deeply integrated" into its Visual Basic development environment and does many of the things other standard programming languages do. However, it is specifically designed to allow programmers to create apps that will eventually run on true quantum computers... Like other companies, such as Google and IBM, Microsoft has been working for years to advance quantum computing research to the point where the technology becomes feasible rather than theoretical... Joining Satya Nadella on stage, Fields Medal-winning mathematician Michael Freedman added, "Microsoft's qubit will be based on a new form of matter called topological matter that also has this property that as the information stored in the matter is stored globally, you can't find the information in any particular place..." The programming language is expected to be available as a free preview by the end of the year and "also includes libraries and tutorials so developers can familiarize themselves with quantum computing," Microsoft said.

Comments

Open Source and Open IP to secure the QC future

[quax]

As far as I am concerned this "new" language is just a repacking of |Liquid>, which Microsoft tried to make look Open Source by moving it to github, and some journos and analysts promptly fell for it, despite the License being right there in the repo.

Microsoft invests heavily to own the future of quantum computing. While now paying lip service to Open Source software, they also aggressively seek software patents in this space.

I have no doubt, that they plan to do the same thing to quantum computing that they did to Linux based Android. They don't have to fear Open Source products if they can collect patent fees.

My start-up tries to build an Open Source quantum computing tool chain, while also trying to secure as many fundamental patents that we can think of, that we then plan to extend to all other Open Source QC projects. (As long as the current laws are on the books, a defensive patent portfolio is the only option to keep companies like MS in check).

We also developed a free AWS image, Bayesforge, where we try to curate all important Open Source tools in this space. (With a docker image to follow soon).

We are just a three guys start-up, but having recently been accepted into the Quantum Machine Learning stream of Creative Destruction Lab in Toronto, we hope to finally attract some more VC money. But no matter the level of financing, start-ups won't be able to secure the quantum computing future from the likes of MS if we can't achieve the same community commitment that powered projects like GNU and Linux.