Microsoft and Open Source

September 28, 2004 2 Comments

Rob Mensching has some interesting comments about Open Source at Microsoft. He seems to not only have a fair understanding of Open Source, but also seems genuinely interested in making it work at MSFT. He even offers to listen to your reasons why a specific Microsoft project should be Open Sourced and see if he can convince the right people to hear your argument. Now that's a refreshing change. There is one area that I disagree with Rob though, and that is on the “Issue of Trust”. He points out that MS has given the OSS community WiX and WTL, and counts those as steps taken to earn trust. While it's true that both those projects are on SourceForge, with the consistent history Microsoft has of attacking OSS the burden of proof is now on them. While I'm not saying those projects will be used in some sort of patent or IP suit, it may be a bit premature that say that they definitively won't be. The bottom line – can an 800lb gorilla with a history of leveraging a monopoly to unfairly crush competition do an about face? The answer, as IBM has shown, is yes. Can Microsoft pull of that same about face with a different set of strengths, business rules and a product set that relies so much on selling software? We'll have to see…
–jeremy

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2 Responses to Microsoft and Open Source

  1. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    September 28, 2004 at 10:50 am

    Jeremy, I'd like to think that releases like WiX, WTL, and now FlexWiki as Open Source projects at least puts Microsoft on the path to addressing your aptly named “burden of proof”. After that, it seems like only consistent actions and time will convince you that Microsoft is not participating in the Open Source community to damage the community in any way. I'm excited about the future, I wish there was something I could do in the near term to minimize your concerns. Feel free to follow up with me (another cross-linked blog entry would be great) if you'd like.

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  2. Unknown's avatar Anonymous says:
    September 28, 2004 at 11:29 am

    Thanks for the reply Rob. While I'd agree that those three projects do put you on that path, so to speak, I still have a couple concerns (and as you've probably guessed, I am not alone). You're correct in that it will take consistent actions and time to turn the tide here. First, the projects are all new, so I'd say you (or more appropriately MSFT, as you seem to have very good intentions yourself), need to prove over an extended time period that contributions made by the Open Source community will not be leveraged against them (or FOSS) in the future. As important, and in the near term, Microsoft continues to directly attack Open Source (on many fronts) while now also participating in Open Source. I think you'll find this is where a lot of skepticism comes from.
    –jeremy

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