Microsoft sets up open source foundation

Microsoft has spent US$1 million to create the non-profit CodePlex Foundation, which it says will “advance the dialogue between commercial software companies and open source communities.”

The foundation will let companies share code, rather than patents. But it promises to address a “full spectrum” of projects, rather than targeting specific projects like other open-source foundations.

Allowing companies to keep their patents is expected to increase their participation. But ZNet predicts it will make the open-source community reluctant to participate.
Web commentators say the foundation’s biggest challenge may be attracting other large software companies who will be reluctant to cede the leadership role to Microsoft.

Microsoft is the sole funder of the company, and says it will review its US$1 million donation annually. But the company says it hopes other sources of funding will be found to increase the foundation’s independence.

The board and advisory panel are all Microsoft staff. Sam Ramji, of Microsoft, will serve as the foundation’s interim head for the first three months, before leaving to join a cloud infrastructure start-up in Silicon Valley.