A contradiction in Terms? Well, no. But I can’t blame you for thinking it.
Port25, Microsoft’s open source blog, is worth subscribing to because of posts like this:
Today, Microsoft has published 175 projects on CodePlex, we have written a pair of open licenses that are under a page in length and over the 500-project mark in adoption as others in the community have decided to use them
As Microsoft’s engagement with open source grows, we have to move from being trailblazers to being road-builders. When you’re blazing a trail, organization, bureaucracy, and majority rule are a burden. In the beginning, a passionate group of people with strongly held beliefs and the will to persevere in the face of doubts and doubters is what it’s all about.
Never thought I’d see the day when this was corporate strategy at Microsoft.
In my view this about-face has come about because of a change in the environment that Microsoft operates in.
Think of it. Sun completely open sourced Solaris. The rise of the blog, the wiki and the Twitter (perhaps not in that order, but humor me) has lead to an increasingly networked community where people’s calls for change can gain plenty of traction. And if Microsoft wasn’t going to do something about them, others would – and did. Think of Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office – or even Linux.
Secondly, Microsoft had a huge pool of untapped resources in the form of techies who had a great deal of experience in Microsoft products and blogged about it. I mean what better to find out what gripes (or ideas, for that matter) people had than by reading their blogs. And Microsoft could always hire the best ones.
And finally, the perception that Microsoft was opening up and actively engaging with the community has done wonders to its once-flagging reputation.
So while Microsoft may not be on the road to open sourcing its flagship products (Windows, office, Visual and Expression Studio), it is opening up.
Random Musings 