All your bases must not belong to Windows/Office/Exchange/Sharepoint/SQL Server

We have just identified a couple of new incidents which are worth drawing attention to. As readers hopefully know by now, Microsoft hopes to 'steal' Open Source in order to make it work better (or only) with Windows and its associated stack. More sponsorships were noticed before, including more significant ones like that of SourceForge. It's worth noting that Microsoft might be using a similar strategy to battle ODF at the moment.

In any event, watch who sponsors this new event. [Note: URL returns a 404 error at the moment, but it worked fine a couple of hours ago]

ICT big guns lend support to Cebu open source meet

[...]

In addition to international speakers, Damarillo said that major multinational corporations such as IBM and Microsoft Philippines are participating in the POSS as well.

Both IBM Philippines president and general manager James G. Velasquez and Microsoft Philippines platform strategy manager Abet Dela Cruz, along with Red Hat APAC channels manager Edwin Chua, will participate in a dialogue on whether and how to use open source technology.

This is bizarre for so many reasons. Is this the same Microsoft Philippines that intercepted an open source bill in the Philippines and fought it like fire over there? Why would it suddenly sponsor a "Free Open Source" conference? How will it participate in this event and for what purpose?

Readers may also recall the recent writings about OpenLogic, which is partly spearheaded and sponsored by Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Here is another interesting take on it.

There's no word yet on what Microsoft paid to become a partner. Organisers say each makes some type of contribution, though some give free technical or legal assistance rather than cash. (Source: betanews.com)

Cynics speculate that Microsoft is using its support for the survey as a commercial move in order to access valuable market research. But it's tough to protest too much given the irony of an open source survey where the underlying data is only available to commercial partners.

Meanwhile, watch what WSO2, an open source software project, is doing with Microsoft.

Open Source SOA Software Shares Microsoft Stage

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WSO2 showed off the results of several "technical collaboration initiatives" designed to extend interoperability across the Microsoft .NET Framework, Java, and other Web services platforms.

[...]

WSO2 was founded by member of the Apache Software Foundation Web services community, so it's no surprise that its SOA platform is based on Apache projects. The platform's foundation technologies consist of a Web services application server based on Apache Axis2, and an enterprise service bus (ESB) based on Apache Synapse. Both are built on the WSO2 Web Services Framework.

Recall the many trips to Redmond, including that of Apache. Also remember Microsoft's plan to treat open source just like any proprietary ISV , including the imposition of software patents and agenda of working better on Windows.

Microsoft will insist on grabbing authority and control over "Open Source". If befriending what it once compared to "communism" and "cancer" is needed to secure its cash cows, then so be it. ⬆

"Microsoft looks at new ideas, they don't evaluate whether the idea will move the industry forward, they ask, 'how will it help us sell more copies of Windows?'"

--Bill Gates, The Seattle Weekly, (April 30, 1998)