Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Does Microsoft Have an Open Source Heart?
8/1/2008
|
|
Microsoft's open source outreach effort, which started just a few years ago, isn't dead on arrival, if you hear Sam Ramji, Microsoft's senior director of platform strategy, talk about it. Rather, it's coming alive.
For instance, Ramji told the largely software developer crowd at OSCON last week that Microsoft was joining the Apache Software Foundation, a nonprofit group that focuses on open source Web server projects.
Even before that event, which was held in Portland, OR, Ramji expressed optimism for Microsoft's nascent open source initiatives.
"A beating heart is the core of what we are going to be doing in the next several years with open source and Linux," Ramji said in an interview with Barton George prior to the event. Ramji is part of the Microsoft Linux/Open Source Software Lab and works with a corporate strategy and execution team.
He added that Microsoft has increased the number of its employees working on open source projects worldwide, from 14 to 15 people about a year ago to 112 people today.
Even a number like 112 is still a tiny blip on the screen. As of May, Microsoft had a total of 89,809 worldwide employees, according to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer report. So that means that just 0.124 percent of Microsoft's employees currently concentrate on open source.
Microsoft's engineers have submitted over 300 projects on Codeplex, Microsoft's open source developer portal, Ramji said. Another open source milestone for the company was Microsoft's acceptance of the Open Source Initiative's authority on licensing, he said.
Microsoft has two open source licenses that were vetted by that nonprofit body, which maintains an open source definition standard. Those licenses include the Microsoft Public License, a BSD-like license according to Ramji, and the Microsoft Reciprocal License, which is Microsoft's "copy-left" license.
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
