On SD Times,
Microsoft creates open-source CodePlex Foundation, Jeff Feinman writes:: In its latest effort to embrace open source, Microsoft has created an open-source foundation of its own. Microsoft today launched the CodePlex Foundation,
a non-profit foundation focused on the exchange of code and knowledge
among software companies and open-source communities. It is an
extension of Microsoft’s Codeplex.com open-source project hosting site,
but Microsoft said the two are independent from one another. Sam
Ramji, who will be serving as the CodePlex Foundation interim
president, called the foundation a “culmination” of what Microsoft has
been working toward as an open-source strategy. He noted that Microsoft
has increased its open-source participation, pointing out the company’s
funding and code donations
to the Apache Software Foundation, as well as Microsoft’s Open Source
Technology Center’s (OSTC) cooperation with the PHP community.
“The
increasing participation in open source at Microsoft led to internal
discussions about initiating a new open-source foundation that would be
sensitive to the needs of software developers who don’t always
participate in open-source community projects,” Ramji said.
“Existing
open-source foundations are mostly targeted at particular projects,
such as the Mozilla Foundation. The CodePlex Foundation will complement
the activities of other open-source foundations by addressing a full
spectrum of software projects.”
When asked how an open-source
foundation could have so much Microsoft involvement, Ramji said
Microsoft and open source are no longer “antithetical, but work closely
together.” The foundation hopes to increase its independence with
funding from sources outside of Microsoft, he said.
The CodePlex
Foundation will be different from other open-source foundations because
it will focus on the contributions of copyrights along with code from
individuals who work for software companies, Ramji said. The focus is
to make sure it’s easy to grant software use rights on behalf of a
company to a community.
“It’s a different dimension from what
other foundations are focused on, where when we think about an
open-source license, we really think about the specific copyright
license,” Ramji said. “That’s just a copyright on the code itself, but
some of the challenges in the practices between software companies and
community projects have been how to clearly treat what’s contributed
and who can use it. We hope to bring some clarity and coherence to
that.”
Ramji added that one benefit of the foundation is that
developers can work through the legalities to contribute to active
open-source projects.
Ramji will also be leaving Microsoft
effective Sept. 25 for what he said are personal reasons. However, he
said that the OSTC, which he oversaw, will continue on under the
leadership of Tom Hanrahan, who was formerly the director of
engineering at the Linux Foundation and currently the OSTC's director.
The
CodePlex Foundation is license, platform and technology agnostic.
Microsoft
gave initial funding for the CodePlex Foundation of US$1
million.
After the first hundred days of the foundation’s
existence, a new executive director will be hired and new board members
will be brought in. Microsoft and open-source community members will
create a charter to help guide how the foundation will be run.
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