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November 10, 2008

As a whole, the division that currently exists between proprietary software vendors and open-source providers isn't as clear as some industry players would like it to be, and some would like to see that change.

As more organizations consider adopting open source technologies, even traditional (read commercial) software vendors such as Microsoft have taken steps in responding to such customer needs. At least from the outset.

Matthew Hardman, platform strategy manager at Microsoft says "however, and conceptually, open source isn't a product but an approach to software development. Microsoft doesn't compete with open source, just as Nike does not compete with running."

He added that Microsoft seeks to provide the 'best possible platform' for open source applications to run. "We believe that enterprises and vendors should have a choice of software development methodology, and open source is one such choice."

According to Hardman, Microsoft has contributed to technologies that are deemed open source. "Some years ago, PHP, a technology used to build all kinds of websites, ran into multiple issues around performance and scalability on Windows Server 2003," he said. "With the introduction of Windows Server 2008 and host technology such as Fast CGI, we are now able to run PHP up to 200 per cent faster than Linux."

Of course, and as can be expected, many in the Linux community totally disagree with that last claim...

However, Hardman did note that Microsoft will compete with open source-based providers, just as it also competes with other proprietary vendors as well. He said the software giant has contributed code to PHP libraries for database support, making it easier for PHP developers to connect to Microsoft databases.

He added "Linux is open source, but open source isn't necessary Linux ALL the time... PHP was designed to make it easier for people to build web sites, not specifically to run only on Linux."

As part of its open-source strategy, Microsoft now hosts a website called CodePlex, where Microsoft employees and the open source community work on some 6,000 (and more) open-source projects. "Examples of such projects include the AJAX Control Toolkit, SugarCRM, .Net, and code that can interact with the 'World of Warcraft'," Hardman said.

To be sure, about five million open source developers from all over the world have created various applications using Microsoft platform technologies such as Windows, .Net, Windows Server and Microsoft Xbox, according to the company.

Microsoft's CodePlex portal includes more than just projects that Microsoft has released, according to Hardman. "It's actually a hosting platform where people can create and share various projects, and we have also used it to share some of our technology to encourage further innovation."

Unlike Red Hat, Microsoft doesn't have a subscription-based model for open-source solutions. "When we want to share source code, we will share it for free," Hardman said. "For example, if someone took the AJAX Control Toolkit, embedded it into a project and commercialised it, that's fine with us."

He added "it's not so much an issue of opening up the source code. Rather, it's about how to make open-source technology work for the enterprise, without it having to change its existing platform or infrastructure."

In short, interoperability among solutions, whether open source or not, is very important, Hardman concluded.

Source: Microsoft.

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