CristiPotlog

After years of living in denial, Microsoft has finally decided to stop trying to fight open-source software, by releasing 30,000 pages of documentation for Windows (both desktop and server products) that were previously available to partners only through trade secret licenses. Redmond is making also available new licenses to a large number of its software patents “on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, at low royalty rates.”

In a series of recent moves including the launch of http://www.opensourcehero.com/ site, that will launch February 28, the same day as Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has released to the press “New interoperability principles.”

The four principles it is declaring are:

(1) ensuring open connections
(2) promoting data portability
(3) enhancing support for industry standards
(4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

In order to improve visibility for following acts, the company has setup a new site, that will allow access to latest developments in Microsoft's products.

Labels: Microsoft, Open Source, Programming, Software

Sun Microsystems announced an agreement to acquire MySQL AB, the company behind MySQL database, one of the world's fastest growing open source databases. MySQL database is regarded as one of the core components of open source server infrastructure, the so-called Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP (LAMP) stack.

In a blog post where MySQL published its official announcement of the acquisition, the company expressed strong affinity for the Solaris operating system. MySQL community vice president Kaj Arno wrote:

"Solaris has a special position in the heart of MySQL, as it was the first platform under which MySQL was developed. Linux came second. Internally, code coverage tests were long performed just on Sun. And with the DTrace probes planned as part of 6.0, some types of optimization of MySQL applications are the easiest on Solaris."

"The combination of MySQL and Sun represents an enormous opportunity for users and organizations of all sizes seeking innovation, growth and choice," said Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL. "Sun's culture and business model complements MySQL's own by sharing the same ideals that we have had since our foundation -- software freedom, online innovation and community and partner participation. We are tremendously excited to work with Sun and the millions of members of the MySQL open source ecosystem to continue to deliver the best database for powering the modern Web economy." (from Sun Press Releasses)

This has not come as a complete surprise. MySQL has previously turned down Oracle’s offer.

Sun's acquisition of MySQL broadly validates open-source database solutions as viable alternatives to proprietary commercial database products like those from Oracle and IBM.

Labels: Java, Open Source, Programming, Software

Daniel Cazzulino has a post on his blog about an addition to .NET 3.5, the System.ServiceModel.Syndication namespace.

Here's an excerpt:

"This namespace, which lives in the System.ServiceModel.Web.dll assembly which provides the WCF Syndication functionality, contains useful classes for working with feeds and items. I won't go over the Architecture of Syndication, How the WCF Syndication Object Model Maps to Atom and RSS, How to: Create a Basic RSS Feed, How to: Create a Basic RSS Feed, How to: Expose a Feed as both Atom and RSS or the basics of Syndication Extensibility. All those links provide enough to get you started."

Labels: .NET, Open Source, Programming, Visual Studio

Microsoft's Scott Guthrie announced yesterday on his blog that he and his team will make a long awaited shift in .NET development, a move that was expected for years by many developers. With the .NET 3.5 and VS 2008 release later this year, Microsoft will be offering source code (with source file comments included) for the .NET Framework libraries. The source code will be released under the Microsoft Reference License (MS-RL).

"We'll begin by offering the source code (with source file comments included) for the .NET Base Class Libraries (System, System.IO, System.Collections, System.Configuration, System.Threading, System.Net, System.Security, System.Runtime, System.Text, etc), ASP.NET (System.Web), Windows Forms (System.Windows.Forms), ADO.NET (System.Data), XML (System.Xml), and WPF (System.Windows). We'll then be adding more libraries in the months ahead (including WCF, Workflow, and LINQ)."

The .NET Framework source libraries will be available for download as a standalone install (allowing you to use any text editor to browse it locally). VS 2008 will also provide integrated debugging support within the IDE, enabling you to press F11 ("Step Into") and drill into the .NET Framework source implementation with the debugger.

The post offers some preview screen-shots and detailed info.

It's not a first for Microsoft to disclose source code for some of its libraries, they have done it before with MFC, and this "new" concept looks a lot like that. Maybe there are other reasons for doing that at this moment, with Sun openning the source code for Java.

This move has stirred reactions from Mono development community, Miguel de Icaza him self publishing a long post on his web log making some speculations about why Microsoft choosed to open the source code.

Labels: .NET, Mono, Open Source, Programming, Software, Visual Studio