OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/20122/Microsoft_to_Sponsor_the_Apache_Software_Foundation Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:28:59 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com If you cant beat'em at least be nice to them. http://osnews.com/thread?324914 http://osnews.com/thread?324914 Wow maybe microsoft is trying to "buy" some good will?...lol Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jsclinuxrules) Comments Don't rush in with FUD :) http://osnews.com/thread?324915 http://osnews.com/thread?324915 Please read this before commenting: http://lwn.net/Articles/291668/

Re: "If you cant beat'em at least be nice to them.
by jsclinuxrules (1) on Tue 29th Jul 2008 16:42 EET":
Damn, someone with a smart comment has already posted ;) Edited 2008-07-29 16:43 UTC Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (-oblio-) Comments Its getting cold down here http://osnews.com/thread?324916 http://osnews.com/thread?324916 Better get out the shovel before it starts snowing. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (errant) Comments Not April's fools http://osnews.com/thread?324917 http://osnews.com/thread?324917 In other news, Microsoft is sponsoring OpenOffice.org and Google Docs.

(Just kidding...) Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Liquidator) Comments Comment by satan666 http://osnews.com/thread?324918 http://osnews.com/thread?324918 Something somewhere is very wrong. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (satan666) Comments Comment by moleskine http://osnews.com/thread?324920 http://osnews.com/thread?324920 "Fox Buys Chickens New Henhouse"

Aw shucks, 100,000 bucks may sound a lot to you and me but to Microsoft it represents a few minutes' turnover. Good luck to them. And nice money to have if there are no strings attached, though as this is Microsoft one suspects there may well be somewhere, somehow. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (moleskine) Comments Clarification http://osnews.com/thread?324921 http://osnews.com/thread?324921 One mistake people often make when considering Microsoft is selling them short as a company. They are a very smart, very business-savvy company. If need be, they can re-invent themselves, and probably fairly quickly. Look at IBM, once the Computer Behemoth feared by many. They had to re-invent themselves a couple times. If Microsoft sees the "OSS" in the wind, you will see a swift adaptation by Redmond. In fact, I would not be surprised to read someday that Microsoft practically invented OSS! Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fretinator) Comments RE: Clarification http://osnews.com/thread?324929 http://osnews.com/thread?324929 I'm a developer for an MS gold partner, and I have alot of contact from inside the company. There is currently a huge culture shift going on internally towards open source. It would be very interesting to see where this came from, since I doubt guys like Phil Haack or John Lam are in a position to do something like that, but I would expect to see more and more stuff like this as time goes on. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (google_ninja) Comments RE: Comment by satan666 - naw.. http://osnews.com/thread?324933 http://osnews.com/thread?324933 .. MS uses Apache webserver too, they just want to do there part to get better tools. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE: Clarification - not outlandish to consider http://osnews.com/thread?324934 http://osnews.com/thread?324934 After all, if you remember Bill's interview a few years back; most of FOSS was paid for by Microsoft so really, we all ow MS fees for using FOSS.

(gah. I wish I could find that news article to link in.)

As for MS in more serious considerations; they have an invenstment in Apple but not controlling shares. An investment or donation to any other software development project without any controlling interest or obligations can't be all bad.

I know I joked previously but even MS uses Apache so they have some very real personal reasons for seeing that code evlove outside of the political and marketing benefits it brings.

MS has been called many things but I've never seen "stupid company" on the list. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE[2]: Clarification - Balmer http://osnews.com/thread?324935 http://osnews.com/thread?324935 When Balmer talks favorably about the FOSS community; I'm pack my snowboard for a little ski trip south I'be veen planning. MS most vocal and FOSS hostile representative will be a late indication of the culture shift. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:49:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE: Its getting cold down here http://osnews.com/thread?324940 http://osnews.com/thread?324940 So you're freely admitting we're in hell already? ;) Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (membrain) Comments RE[2]: Comment by satan666 - naw.. http://osnews.com/thread?324944 http://osnews.com/thread?324944
.. MS uses Apache webserver too, they just want to do there part to get better tools.


Are you sure? Cause I thought Microsoft regarded IIS as a very powerful tool. This is a quote from http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/IIS/Default.mspx: "Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 is a powerful Web server that provides a highly reliable, manageable, and scalable Web application infrastructure for all versions of Windows Server 2003".Edited 2008-07-29 20:18 UTC Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (satan666) Comments Embrace...extend... http://osnews.com/thread?324946 http://osnews.com/thread?324946 ...and destroy. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (cmost) Comments RE[3]: Comment by satan666 - naw.. http://osnews.com/thread?324947 http://osnews.com/thread?324947
".. MS uses Apache webserver too, they just want to do there part to get better tools.


Are you sure? Cause I thought Microsoft regarded IIS as a very powerful tool. This is a quote from http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/IIS/Default.mspx: "Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 is a powerful Web server that provides a highly reliable, manageable, and scalable Web application infrastructure for all versions of Windows Server 2003". "

They sure do. It's common info that Microsoft even has few hundred linux servers in their labs. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kishe) Comments I wonder http://osnews.com/thread?324949 http://osnews.com/thread?324949 I wonder if the higher ups in Microsoft realize that money will not buy them any control in most large FOSS organizations? (The partial success with ISO may have fooled some of them).

I don't mean that this is why money has been offered. It could be for all the right reasons, from all the right people.

What I mean is that a few years down the line it is possible that someone in Microsoft's management will start thinking that the money they supply gives them the right to dictate future designs much like Microsoft does to a number of organizations today.

Boy, will someone be in for a surprise! Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Earl C Pottinger) Comments RE: Embrace...extend... http://osnews.com/thread?324955 http://osnews.com/thread?324955 Rolleyes...yawn...snore. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jayson.knight) Comments Let'em improve support for Apache 2.x base http://osnews.com/thread?324958 http://osnews.com/thread?324958 When do we start focusing on Apache 3.x redesign? Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tyrione) Comments RE[2]: Clarification - not outlandish to consider http://osnews.com/thread?324995 http://osnews.com/thread?324995 The List
---------------

1. Microsoft is an evil company.
2. Microsoft is a lawbreaking company.
3. Microsoft is bad company.
4. Microsoft is a stupid company.
5. Microsoft is a company bigger than what is good for anybody.

...

"stupid company" is actually no. 4 on the list. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (wowtip) Comments Is this a surprise? http://osnews.com/thread?325011 http://osnews.com/thread?325011 Microsoft is in the business of selling their platforms (.Net, Windows, etc). Is it really surprising that they are sponsoring the development of an open source program to better work on their platforms? Is it possible that speculation of Microsoft intending to destroy the competition is nothing more that (completely founded) speculation? Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (npang) Comments RE: Is this a surprise? http://osnews.com/thread?325016 http://osnews.com/thread?325016 Making Apache to work better with Windows so that people will install Apache on Windows instead of installing it on Linux?

Or have Apache to use Winsock only API? :\ Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shyouko) Comments This move strengthens MS' platform http://osnews.com/thread?325034 http://osnews.com/thread?325034 Just like Microsoft's contribution to Eclipse/SWT (to make SWT work better on Windows), this is a move that is in Microsoft's interest of strengthening their platform.

From their perspective, open source software that runs well on Windows is just as good for Windows market share as proprietary software that runs well on Windows.

People inside Microsoft are recognizing that open source software is here to stay, and working with it is often to their best advantage.

But MS will still compete vigorously with both Linux and OpenOffice, while embracing most other stuff to make it run better on Windows.

But at the same time, MS competes with Apache, with IIS. But IIS does not generate (much) revenue. It just strengthens Windows on the server side. So, if they can make Apache run better on Windows, they won't get the same lock-in as with IIS, but they get market inertia - i.e. If someone deploys Apache on Windows, and takes advantage of Microsoft's Apache/Windows tweaks, they'll be likely to stay on Windows, rather than migrating to Linux (even though they can). Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JeffS) Comments .NET platform http://osnews.com/thread?325036 http://osnews.com/thread?325036 Apache is able to run ASP.NET applications and host .NET web services with help of Mono. The configuration is little bit awkward and not enough documented, but it definitely works. That makes Apache a .NET platform. Seeing Apache running on Windows server is not uncommon, too. Apache and Windows/.NET are not two isolated worlds any more.

Majority of software vendors are interested in interoperability, expecting to benefit from it.

Microsoft was different, but I think that they are becoming more like others. Perhaps, it was something related to former president's, Bill Gates, ego.

DG Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (trenchsol) Comments RE[4]: Comment by satan666 - naw.. http://osnews.com/thread?325141 http://osnews.com/thread?325141 hehe.. I was just kidding with my comment but since the person before you wanted to take it seriously and, as you point out; all computer companies the size of MS have labs with a machien for each competing platform.

I believe the cluster behind Windows Update is also supported by linux systems though the actual http deamon may be something other than Apache. Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE[3]: Clarification - not outlandish to consider http://osnews.com/thread?325142 http://osnews.com/thread?325142 hehe.. that one made me laugh Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE[5]: Comment by satan666 - naw.. http://osnews.com/thread?325413 http://osnews.com/thread?325413 I'm pretty sure the content is hosted by Akamai, which runs Linux, but maybe not apache. Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (PlatformAgnostic) Comments