Once upon a time Microsoft and its software were considered holy.  No one, unless you had special permission, was allowed to access the OS source code.  Then along came a little OS penguin who gave his source code freely and he was much beloved by the land.  Microsoft was not particularly happy with the penguin named Linux and the corporate giant said that Linux was a bad thing.  Linux, however, persevered and now others like Linux are welcomed throughout the world.  This is the story of open source code.  Microsoft was the powerful overlord and Linux was the dashing hero.  The company is playing a different mandolin, though, with evidence being its contribution to the Linux kernel and a new Web site dubbed Microsoft Openness.

Microsoft Openness can be compared to an ISV Web site.  It has a blog, lists products and licensing, work it has done (mostly government), its developers, and basic code of conduct.  What is the most eye-catching is at the top on the right hand side, Microsoft has a rotating graphic that pairs the company’s name with well-known open source software.  Quite the visible turn around from a decade ago.  This proves, if anything, that open source software is valuable.  Microsoft has added a brand new part to their company that embraces open source possibilities (not to mention the cost-effective solutions that will appeal to its customers).

The world has changed from the closed commercial licenses; which still exist, but can be paired with open source.  Things can change.  Another thing that has changed recently has been LucidWorks.  It still provides the same powerful search applications based on Apache Lucene and Solr, but it streamlined its product offerings making it easier to server their clients.

Whitney Grace, September 6, 2012

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.