OSS Watch have published an exhaustive look at Microsoft’s forays into open source. Microsoft: an end to open hostilities explores Microsoft’s sponsorship of the Apache Software Foundation, the establishment of The Codeplex Foundation and other Microsoft toes dipped into open source waters. Does this signal a new approach or is it just part of business as usual?
The article is very though-provoking for anyone interested in the impact of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) developments on big business. It also brought to mind Brian Kelly‘s presentation at Internet Librarian International 2009 where he described Microsoft’s venture into open standards; the Office Open XML file format. All 6,000 pages of it.
