Open Source Labs at Microsoft
I wonder how many people out there know that Microsoft has an open-source development lab? - Makes perfect sense when you think about it!
Walk away from the vision of a David vs Goliath battle in the software industry or a scene from Star Wars with Open Source Developers being tempted by the evil Emperor offering a choice between Open Office and Microsoft Office 2007 with no monetary restrictions. “I will never join you!!” – woh, hold on to your helicopter hats, maybe that’s a little extreme!
The picture of reality is far less dramatic, there are no light-sabres or wrinkly old men with lightening flying from his fingertips. Shame. In actual fact, Microsoft has been known to embrace the movement of Open Source and in my view the two extremes of IP and Open Source are edging closer to a common ground of harmonic balance!
The Microsoft Open Source Website provides an insight into this idea. It shows that there is a need to embrace diverse application development environments to truly create an ecosystem conducive to innovation. This site is not replacing Port25 the public portal for the Open Source Software Lab at Microsoft or Codeplex the Microsoft open source project hosting web site, instead the Microsoft Open Source Website is seen as a gateway for information about open source engagements and activities across Microsoft.
Pretty cool actually, have a browse.
Another piece of info pertinent to this topic is that the next release of Windows Server is rumoured to be fully compatible with php applications without the need to re-code. LAMP on Windows - WAMP.
SQL Server 2008 is looking pretty good too and WASP sounds far cooler J
