Embrace, extends and... you know the rest

We warned about this quite a while ago and on several occasions we showed how it had developed [1, 2, 3, 4]. Don't take it from us though. Take it from Microsoft's explanation of the situation. Here is it from Fort 25 [sic].

Microsoft & Sourceforge

[...]

So here’s how to get involved: If you’re a project contributor, maintainer, or user – visit http://sourceforge.net/community/cca08/ - Select ‘Nominate’ and get started recognizing your favorite OSS Projects. You can ‘Search’ for projects too – Sourceforge has developed a clever widget that returns results across forges. In the case below, I searched for ‘XNA’ and received multiple Codeplex results.

Very nice. How long before SourgeForge is filled with Windows-only applications that rely on Microsoft's proprietary stack for their operation? Remember: to Microsoft, "open source" is just some development methodology.

The moves from Microsoft are worrisome and the example above just part of a bigger picture. That would 'dilute' SourceForge.net to the point where the site no longer has much to do with Free software, let alone GNU/Linux. It would also give away partial administration rights to the company which compared open source to "communism" and Linux to "a cancer".

Speaking of embrace-and-extend maneuvers, don't forget the Microsoft-oriented XenSource, which appears to be extending.

For example, Citrix says that XenServer sales continue to double each quarter and that all the major x86 server vendors are actively bundling and shipping the product. Citrix has also increased the number of trained XenServer resellers from 300 to more than 2,500 in that timeframe. Finally, Citrix is making internal investments in sales and marketing staff and actually delivered a new version of XenServer this March. Sounds like progress to me.

It is likely that Microsoft will continue to use its money to invade and control its rivals' side. It just needs to smile and play innocent while doing all of this. ⬆

"People everywhere love Windows."

--Bill Gates