Microsoft is putting its weight behind a new endeavor to which the software giant has agreed to contribute $1 million. Called the CodePlex Foundation, the nonprofit organization describes its mission as enabling the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open-source communities.
The foundation will be led by interim President Sam Ramji, who is leaving his position as senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft at the end of this month. However, Bill Staples, general manager of Microsoft’s Web platform and tools team, claimed the new organization is independent from the software giant.
“The foundation’s mission to help the exchange of code and understanding between software companies and open-source communities is really interesting to Microsoft,” said Staples, who is also a member of the interim board of directors.
Continuing Skepticism
Still, the open-source community continues to be wary of Microsoft’s intentions when it comes to Linux. The skepticism among Linux backers was recently heightened by media reports suggesting Microsoft has been instructing Best Buy employees on how to communicate with customers in ways that stress the superiority of Windows 7 over Linux.
What’s more, the open-source community clearly felt threatened by Microsoft’s recent divestiture of 22 patents with the potential to be cited in litigation aimed at bringing down Linux. According to Linux Foundation President Jim Zemlin, Microsoft put them up for sale to patent trolls to “generate fear, uncertainty and doubt about Linux” without having to worry about damaging itself by attacking the Linux community directly.
However, the Open Invention Network — which is backed by the open-source community as well as IBM, Red Hat, and Sony — moved quickly to nip the potential threat by acquiring the patents.
“This deal shows the mechanisms the Linux industry has constructed to defend Linux are working, even though the outcome also…