I waqs flabbergasted when i saw this.I thought it was a prank. But perhaps the old adage “if you cant beat them, join them” comes into play. Microsoft will not overcome the beauty and grace of the Open Source movement.

Perhaps its not a true concession. When music style changed from the 80’s to the 90’s, instead of retiring Metallica simply adapted their style and still sold tickets and albums. This cost them a few fans but gained them more, and kept them in the game.

And now Microsoft, who once referred to Open Source as communism steps into the fray. In my opinion thats real nice, finally skilled coders can review the drivel put forth by the capitalist giant  and maybe in a round about way Microsoft will turn out some good code.

Not only releasing a few pieces of Open Source code, but also surrendering some of its home grown licenses to the Open Source Initiative, Microsoft is really making waves in the Open Source community.  Whats going on?

I think its simple, in this age, theres no longer 1 single way to do things, and when open source didnt prove to be just a trend, they realized it was a “get in or move on” thing. Blend, and continue with business as usual. A quote from the Microsoft Press release:

“Open source is neither an industry fad, nor a magic bullet.”