Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache Foundation 425
Penguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll release Vista under a GPL license anytime soon, this is certainly an unexpected series of moves on their part, and could possibly lead to more OSS (as opposed to 'Shared Source') interactivity between what is arguably Linux' greatest adversary and the Open Source community." (We mentioned the announced support for the Apache Foundation earlier today, as well.)
Re:Embrace.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Keep off the cynicism... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The Mayans were wrong (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The Mayans were wrong (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, they didn't do that, either. A rollover of a particular long cycle in the Long Count calendar occurs then, and its one that has correspondence to an end of a previous creation recorded in their myth (the last 5 numbers of the date are the same, and only those last 5 numbers are recorded, which was apparently fairly common practice), from which various New Age folks invented the idea that Maya Calendar prediced the end of the world on December 21, 2012. There are, in fact, specific predictions made in some Maya writings of predicted future events clearly within this creation on dates in the Long Count that would post-date December 21, 2012, so its pretty clear that if such a belief in the end of the creation on 12.19.19.17.19 existed (for which there is, AFAIK, not one bit of evidence), it certainly wasn't universal.
Re:Circling the drain.... (Score:2, Informative)
yes, but for the last 2 quarters, their profits have fallen below expectations
resulting in an 11% (march 08) and a 6% (july 08) fall in share value
anyway...
Re:The Devil must be pissed off (Score:4, Informative)
How do you "extend" the LGPL? It's just like the GPL except that you can link to the code; the open source part is still protected by an invariant license.
True, this is a good way for Microsoft to get cost-free code while being allowed to keep its secret sauce secret. But I don't think the EEE strategy is applicable here.
Re:The Devil must be pissed off (Score:5, Informative)
Under BSD, they put out a project, it's open, and you can take bits and build it into something of your own, at which point it is your project, do what you like with it
With GPL the person who wrote the code wants all of their code to remain 'open' wherever it goes, so if you swipe some of their coding and put it in your own module, to make that module proprietary would be locking up their code. Although of course, the original source remains open...
Still, it makes the Extend (or maybe the Extinguish) part of the "3 E's" strategy harder if you have to give back everything you add.
Re:Its very probably a ploy /trap but it wont fly (Score:2, Informative)
I dunno where in the world you are, but most college grads in the US should be able to get $20/hr to start. Most contract programming positions I've seen for Senior developers are $40/hr to $100/hr, and telecommuting is very common.
Re:The Register is not credible (Score:3, Informative)
So my response is: wait for an announcement elsewhere.
You mean like the announcement currently at the top of Apache's [apache.org] homepage?
Re:Their cash is circling the drain.... (Score:4, Informative)
It's my understanding that they've deliberately been getting rid of their excess money beacuse their shareholders weren't happy with it — after all, it's really their money and it was just sitting their waiting for a rainy day that's probably never going to come. Microsoft could give all their money to me tomorrow (and I hope they do!), and the company would have more money than they know what to do with before you say "Microsoft shareholders have launched a lawsuit against their board for 'irresponsibly' donating all their money to a very worthwhile Slashdotter".
Re:The Devil must be pissed off (Score:3, Informative)
FUD and lies. The Apache license requires you share the code that is under the Apache license. Any file that contains any apache licensed code must remain apache licensed, along with any changes.
The difference between Apache and GPL is that GPL defines some vague "project" whereas Apache uses the clear term "file" as the domain the viral clause applies to
Microsoft and open source (Score:2, Informative)
Microsoft also recently donated $32,000 to support the Sage Mathematics Software Project [sagemath.org], which produced GPL'd free software. See the financial contributors list [sagemath.org].
-- William (Sage developer)
"Membership" Does Not Apply (Score:4, Informative)
You can't "buy" a membership in the Apache Software Foundation, and corporations cannot become members. As has been [codeconsult.ch] blogged [agylen.com] elsewhere [wordpress.com], El Reg has its terminology wrong on this one.
Microsoft has agreed to a platinum level sponsorship [wordpress.com] of the Apache Software Foundation. If you browse to the page, you'll see that the benefits of sponsoring, even at that level, consist of a logo and a press release.
You can't buy a membership in the ASF. The only way to influence the ASF is to show up and talk code. Anyone can join the mailinglists and start contributing patches, and everyone who contributes a substantial amount of code signs a license agreement [apache.org] to clear the IP. If folks contribute code of consistent quality, they become committers. As they show their interest in the project surpasses their day to day circumstances (like affiliation), they are invited to the Project Management Committee. Show that you have the interests of the foundation at heart, and you'll likely be invited to become a member and get to vote in board elections. That's how it works [apache.org]. Membership can be earned, but not bought.
-- Sander Temme - Member, Apache Software Foundation