(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10)
Loading ...Microsoft an open source company? Pul-leeze
I’m never sure whether to take seriously Microsoft’s efforts to ingratiate itself (if that’s what you want to call it) to the open source community. First it strikes patent-cross licensing deals with Linux distributors like Novell. Then it submits its own products for open source certification. What kind of Bizarro world are these people living in?
At last week’s O’Reilly’s Open Source Conference, a Microsoft exec said that it’s submitting its so-called Shared Source licences to the Open Source Initiative. The problem is that, according to a Computerworld U.S. story, more than half of Microsoft’s licences automatically fail to meet the group’s rules.
Working through standards-style groups is often maddeningly complex, but in this case it’s pretty simple: the OSI supports licences which anyone can view, use, edit and modify. Microsoft’s Shard Source licences are restricted to running on Windows only. It’s about choice, and I don’t think anyone at Microsoft should be surprised if the OSI should choose not to make it a member of the club.
