Microsoft to Submit Licenses for OSI Approval
Microsoft will submit its Shared Source licenses to the Open Source Initiative for review and approval as open-source licenses.
Bill Hilf, general manager of platform strategy at Microsoft, used his keynote address at the annual O’Reilly Open Source Conference in Portland, Ore. on July 26 to discuss Microsoft’s evolving open-source strategy.
As part of that, he highlighted a new Microsoft Web site designed to provide additional transparency into the company’s position on open source, and announced the company’s intent to submit its Shared Source licenses to the OSI for approval.
“Microsoft and the OSI are currently in active discussion on this and additional details will be made available in the coming weeks,” Hilf said.
A Microsoft spokesperson declined to give any additional specifics and, when asked what had changed to make this the right time for Microsoft to seek open-source approval for its licenses, the spokesperson would only say that “things continue to evolve when it comes to open source at Microsoft.”
“Perhaps Microsoft is trying to mend some burned bridges after it claimed that 235 of its patents were being violated by Linux and open-source software and then said it was not bound by GPLv3 in any way,” one open-source developer told eWEEK.
Read more: eWeek
