Microsoft and open source

F# Software Foundation
.NET Foundation
Xamarin
GitHub

Microsoft, a technology company once known for its opposition to the open source software paradigm, turned to embrace the approach in the 2010s. From the 1970s through 2000s under CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft viewed the community creation and sharing of communal code, later to be known as free and open source software, as a threat to its business, and both executives spoke negatively against it. In the 2010s, as the industry turned towards cloud, embedded, and mobile computing—technologies powered by open source advances—CEO Satya Nadella led Microsoft towards open source adoption although Microsoft's traditional Windows business continued to grow throughout this period generating revenues of 26.8 billion in the third quarter of 2018, while Microsoft's Azure cloud revenues nearly doubled its revenue.[1]

Microsoft open sourced some of its code, including the .NET Framework and Visual Studio Code, and made investments in Linux development, server technology, and organizations, including the Linux Foundation and Open Source Initiative. Linux-based operating systems power the company's Azure cloud services. Microsoft acquired GitHub, the largest host for open source project infrastructure, in 2018. Microsoft is among the site's most active contributors. This acquisition lead a few projects to migrate away from GitHub.[2] This proved a short lived phenomenon because by 2019 there were over 10 million new users of GitHub.[citation needed]

Since 2018, Microsoft is one of the biggest open source contributors in the world, measured by the number of employees actively contributing to open source projects on GitHub, the largest host of source code in the world.[3][4]

History

Initial stance on open source

See also: Open Letter to Hobbyists
Altair 8K BASIC on paper tape. In 1976, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates expressed frustration with most computer hobbyists who were using his company's software without having paid for it.

The paradigm of freely sharing computer source code—a practice known as open source—traces back to the earliest commercial computers, whose user groups shared code to reduce duplicate work and costs.[5] Following an antitrust suit that forced the unbundling of IBM's hardware and software, a proprietary software industry grew throughout the 1970s, in which companies sought to protect their software products. The technology company Microsoft was founded in this period and has long been an embodiment of the proprietary paradigm and its tension with open source practices, well before the terms "free software" or "open source" were coined. Within a year of founding Microsoft, Bill Gates wrote an open letter that positioned the hobbyist act of copying software as a form of theft.[6]

Microsoft successfully expanded in personal computer and enterprise server markets through the 1990s, partially on the strength of the company's marketing strategies.[7] By the late 1990s, Microsoft came to view the growing open source movement as a threat to their revenue and platform. Internal strategy memos from this period, known as the Halloween documents, describe the company's potential approaches to stopping open source momentum. One strategy was "embrace-extend-extinguish", in which Microsoft would adopt standard technology, add proprietary extensions, and upon establishing a customer base, would lock consumers into the proprietary extension to assert a monopoly of the space. The memos also acknowledged open source as a methodology capable of meeting or exceeding proprietary development methodology. Microsoft downplayed these memos as the opinions of an individual employee and not Microsoft's official position.[8]

While many major companies worked with open source software in the 2000s,[9] the decade was also marked by a "perennial war" between Microsoft and open source in which Microsoft continued to view open source as a scourge on its business[10] and developed a reputation as the archenemy of the free and open source movement.[11] Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer likened Linux to a kind of cancer on intellectual property. Microsoft sued Lindows, a Linux operating system that could run Microsoft Windows applications, as a trademark violation. The court rejected the claim and after Microsoft purchased its trademark, the software changed its name to Linspire.[10]

In 2002, Microsoft began experimenting with 'shared source', including the Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure, the core of .NET Framework.[12]

Adoption

2000s

In April 2004, Windows Installer XML (WiX) was the first Microsoft project to be released under an open-source license,[13] the Common Public License.[14] Initially hosted on SourceForge,[15] it was also the first Microsoft project to be hosted externally.

In June 2004, for the first time Microsoft was represented with a booth at LinuxTag, a free software exposition, held annually in Germany.[16] LinuxTag claims to be Europe's largest exhibition for open source software.

In September 2004 Microsoft released its FlexWiki, making its source code available on SourceForge.[17] The engine is open source, also licensed under the Common Public License. FlexWiki was the third Microsoft project to be distributed via SourceForge, after WiX and Windows Template Library (WTL).

In 2005, Microsoft released the F# programming language under the Apache License 2.0.[12]

In 2006 Microsoft launched its CodePlex open source code hosting site, to provide hosting for open-source developers targeting Microsoft platforms.

Microsoft also ported PHP to Windows under PHP License and partnered with Novell to improve open source interoperability in 2006.[12]

The Open Source Initiative approved the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) and Microsoft Reciprocal License (MS-RL) in 2007.[12]

Microsoft open sourced IronRuby, IronPython, and xUnit.net under MS-PL in 2007.[12]

In 2008, Microsoft joined the Apache Software Foundation.[18]

Microsoft first began contributing to the Linux kernel in 2009.[12]

In 2010, Microsoft Research and Wikipedia joined forces to launch WikiBhasha, an open-source multi-lingual content creation tool for the online encyclopedia.[19]

2010s

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2014
Miguel de Icaza, founding member of the Mono, and Xamarin projects and member of the board of directors of the .NET Foundation

Microsoft became a partner with LinuxTag for their 2011 event and also sponsored LinuxTag 2012.[20][21]

In 2014, Satya Nadella was named the new CEO of Microsoft. Microsoft began to adopt open source into its core business. In contrast to Ballmer's stance, Nadella presented a slide that read, "Microsoft loves Linux".[11] At the time of the acquisition of GitHub, Nadella said of Microsoft, "We are all in on open source." As the industry trended towards cloud, embedded, and mobile computing, Microsoft turned to open source to stay apace in these open source dominated fields. Microsoft's adoption of open source included several surprising turns. In 2014, the company opened the source of its .NET Framework to promote its software ecosystem and stimulate cross-platform development.

In 2015, Microsoft co-founded the Node.js Foundation[22] and joined the R Foundation. The same year, Microsoft also open sourced Matter Center, Microsoft's legal practice management software and also Chakra, the Microsoft Edge JavaScript engine at the time.[12]

Microsoft opened the keynote speech at All Things Open in 2015 by stating that:

Microsoft's approach to open today is: Enable, integrate, release, and contribute.

— Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure[23]

In 2016, Microsoft introduced Windows Subsystem for Linux, which lets Linux applications run on the Windows operating system. The company invested in Linux server technology and Linux development to promote cross-platform compatibility and collaboration with open source companies and communities, culminating with Microsoft's platinum sponsorship of the Linux Foundation and seat on its Board of Directors.[24]

Microsoft released SQL Server and the now open source PowerShell for Linux.[12] Also, Microsoft began porting Sysinternals tools, including ProcDump and ProcMon, to Linux.[25]

In March 2016, Ballmer changed his stance on Linux, saying that he supports his successor Satya Nadella's open source commitments. He maintained that his comments in 2001 were right at the time but that times have changed.[26][27]

Commentators have noted the adoption of open source and the change of strategy at Microsoft:[28]

The company has become an enthusiastic supporter of Linux and of open source and a very active member of many important projects.

— Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation[29]

The BitFunnel search engine indexing algorithm and various components of the Microsoft Bing search engine were made open source by Microsoft in 2016.[30][31]

Microsoft joined the Open Source Initiative, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, and the MariaDB Foundation in 2017.[12] The Open Source Initiative, formerly a target of Microsoft, used the occasion of Microsoft's sponsorship as a milestone for open source software's widespread acceptance.

Also the same year, the Windows development was moved to git and Microsoft open sourced the Git Virtual File System (GVFS) developed for that purpose. Microsoft opened the Microsoft Store to open source applications and gave the keynote speech at the Open Source Summit North America 2017 in Los Angeles.[12]

Microsoft delivered the keynote of the 2018 Southern California Linux Expo, a major convention.[32]

Microsoft developed Linux-based operating systems for use with its Azure cloud services. Azure Cloud Switch supports the Azure infrastructure and is based on open source and proprietary technology, and Azure Sphere powers Internet of things devices. As part of its announcement, Microsoft acknowledged Linux's role in small devices where the full Windows operating system would be unnecessary.[32]

In 2018, Microsoft joined the Open Invention Network and cross-licensed 60,000 patents with the open source community.[33]

Nat Friedman, CEO of Microsoft's GitHub subsidiary, the largest host of source code in the world

Also in 2018, Microsoft acquired GitHub, the largest host for open source project infrastructure. Microsoft is among the site's most active contributors and the site hosts the source code for Microsoft's Visual Studio Code and .NET runtime system. The company, though, has received some criticism for only providing limited returns to the Linux community, since the GPL license lets Microsoft modify Linux source code for internal use without sharing those changes.[34] In 2019, Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 transitioned from an emulated Linux kernel to a full Linux kernel within a virtual machine, improving processor performance manifold. In-keeping with the GPL open source license, Microsoft will submit its kernel improvements for accommodation into the master, public release.[35]

In 2019, Microsoft included OpenSSH in Windows,[36] released Windows Calculator as open source under MIT License on GitHub,[37] and transitioned its Edge browser to use the open source Chromium as the basis.[38]

2020s

In 2020, Microsoft open sourced the Java extension for Microsoft SQL Server,[12] MsQuic (a Windows NT kernel library for the QUIC general-purpose transport layer network protocol),[39] Project Petridish, a neural architecture search algorithm for deep learning,[40] and the Fluid Framework for building distributed, real-time collaborative web applications.[41] Microsoft also released the Linux-based Azure Sphere operating system.[12]

Microsoft was one of the silver sponsors for the X.Org Developer’s Conference 2020 (XDC2020). Microsoft had multiple developers presenting on the opening day.[42]

In September 2020, Microsoft released the Surface Duo, an Android-based smartphone with a Linux kernel.[43]

Support of open source organizations

Microsoft is either founding member, joining member, contributing member, and/or sponsor of a number of open source related organizations and initiatives. Examples include:

Selected products

Atom text and source code editor with an open project on Windows 10
ChronoZoom
DiskSpd
MonoDevelop IDE for Linux, macOS, and Windows
PowerShell for Linux on Ubuntu
Vowpal Wabbit
Windows Package Manager
Windows Terminal
XML Notepad XML editor

See also

References

  1. ^ Bright, Peter (April 26, 2018). "Even Windows revenue is up in Microsoft's $26.8 billion 3Q18". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  2. ^ "GitHub rivals gain from Microsoft acquisition but it's no mass exodus, yet". ZDNet. May 6, 2019.
  3. ^ Microsoft may be the world's largest open source contributor, but developers don't care--yet
  4. ^ Who really contributes to open source
  5. ^ Radits 2019, pp. 13–14.
  6. ^ Radits 2019, pp. 17–18.
  7. ^ Radits 2019, pp. 27–28.
  8. ^ Radits 2019, p. 27.
  9. ^ Radits 2019, p. 30.
  10. ^ a b Radits 2019, p. 31.
  11. ^ a b Radits 2019, p. 32.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnes, Hayden (May 23, 2020). "Microsoft and Open Source: An unofficial timeline". boxofcables.dev. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  13. ^ Mensching, Rob (August 14, 2012). "Outercurve Foundation and WiX toolset together, at last". RobMensching.com /Blog. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  14. ^ Mensching, Rob (August 20, 2012). "The WiX toolset license". Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  15. ^ Mensching, Rob (April 5, 2004). "Windows Installer XML (WiX) toolset has released as Open Source on SourceForge.net". RobMensching.com /Blog. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  16. ^ LinuxTag 2004 Ausstellerliste
  17. ^ "FlexWiki: Microsofts Third Open Software Project", eWeek, September 28, 2004, retrieved April 5, 2012
  18. ^ Microsoft Joins Apache Software Foundation
  19. ^ "Write wikis in any language with new multilingual content creation tool" (Relaxnews story), The Independent, 20 October 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  20. ^ Microsoft: The Unlikely Sponsor Of Linux
  21. ^ LinuxTag 2012 Gathers Linux Stakeholders In Berlin
  22. ^ Microsoft moves, with others, to help create the Node.js Foundation
  23. ^ Microsoft's Mark Russinovich to Linux faithful: Send us your resumes
  24. ^ a b Radits 2019, p. 33.
  25. ^ Cimpanu, Catalin (November 5, 2018). "Microsoft working on porting Sysinternals to Linux". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
  26. ^ "Ballmer: Linux No Longer A Cancer - InformationWeek".
  27. ^ "Steve Ballmer: Linux Is No Longer 'A Cancer'". March 11, 2016.
  28. ^ Linux and open source have won, get over it
  29. ^ Open source has won, and Microsoft has surrendered
  30. ^ Microsoft open-sources Bing components for fast code compilation | InfoWorld
  31. ^ Verma, Arpit (September 7, 2016). "Microsoft Open Sources Major Components Of Bing Search Engine, Here's Why It Matters". Fossbytes. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  32. ^ a b Radits 2019, p. 34.
  33. ^ What does Microsoft joining the Open Invention Network mean for you?
  34. ^ a b Radits 2019, p. 35.
  35. ^ Bright, Peter (May 6, 2019). "Windows 10 will soon ship with a full, open source, GPLed Linux kernel". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  36. ^ "OpenSSH for Windows Update". October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  37. ^ Foley, Mary Jo (March 6, 2019). "Microsoft is open-sourcing Windows Calculator on GitHub". ZDNet. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  38. ^ Warren, Tom (May 6, 2019). "Inside Microsoft's surprise decision to work with Google on its Edge browser". The Verge. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  39. ^ Microsoft open-sources in-house library for handling QUIC connections | ZDNet
  40. ^ Microsoft Open-Sources Project Petridish for Deep-Learning Optimization
  41. ^ Tung, Liam (September 10, 2020). "Microsoft's new Fluid Framework: Now it's open-sourced on GitHub". ZDNet. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  42. ^ Microsoft Has A Large Presence At This Year's X.Org Conference
  43. ^ August 2020, Tom Warren 13. "Microsoft Surface Duo Arrives on September 10th for $1399". TheVerge.
  44. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (April 3, 2014). "Microsoft Launches .NET Foundation To Foster The .NET Open Source Ecosystem". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  45. ^ Alliance for Open Media
  46. ^ Members | Cloud Native Computing Foundation
  47. ^ Members - Confidential Computing Foundation
  48. ^ Explore Our Members | The Eclipse Foundation
  49. ^ "F# Foundation: Taking Microsoft's F# Language to a Higher Ground (eWeek)". Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  50. ^ Supporting Members – Hyperledger
  51. ^ Current Members - OpenAPI Initiative
  52. ^ Home - OpenBMC
  53. ^ Home - OpenChain
  54. ^ Membership Directory » Open Compute Project
  55. ^ OCF Membership List
  56. ^ Open Container Initiative - Open Container Initiative
  57. ^ United States Archives - Open Invention Network
  58. ^ Members - OpenJS Foundation
  59. ^ Google, Microsoft, GitHub, and Others Join the Open Source Security Foundation
  60. ^ Outreachy | Internships Supporting Diversity in Tech - Outreachy
  61. ^ Machlis, Sharon. "Esri joins the R Consortium". Computerworld. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  62. ^ Krill, Paul (April 18, 2019). "Microsoft aims for simplicity with Bosque programming language". InfoWorld. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  63. ^ Tung, Liam (September 10, 2020). "Microsoft's new Fluid Framework: Now it's open-sourced on GitHub". ZDNet. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  64. ^ Warren, Tom (May 19, 2020). "Microsoft's new Fluid Office document is Google Docs on steroids". The Verge. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  65. ^ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/open-sourcing-msvcs-stl/
  66. ^ PowerShell
  67. ^ ProcDump - Monitor CPU/processes - Windows CMD - SS64.com
  68. ^ a b Chan, Rosalie (November 9, 2019). "The 10 most popular programming languages, according to the Microsoft-owned GitHub". Business Insider. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  69. ^ Warren, Tom (March 6, 2019). "Microsoft open-sources its Windows calculator on GitHub". The Verge. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  70. ^ Archambault, Michael (March 6, 2019). "Microsoft Continues Open-Source Effort, Releases Calculator Code". Digital Trends. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  71. ^ Bowden, Zac (May 19, 2020). "Microsoft's open source Windows Terminal app reaches stable release". Windows Central. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  72. ^ Warren, Tom (May 6, 2019). "Microsoft unveils Windows Terminal, a new command line app for Windows". The Verge. Retrieved May 20, 2020.

Bibliography

  • Radits, Markus (January 25, 2019). A Business Ecology Perspective on Community-Driven Open Source: The Case of the Free and Open Source Content Management System Joomla. Linköping University Electronic Press. ISBN 978-91-7685-305-4.

Further reading

External links

fonte: https://web.archive.org/web/20201117170035/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_and_open_source