Microsoft on-again, off-again relationship with open source is on-again

Write the words Microsoft and open source into a blog post is going to get a reaction.

It's an essential element in open source history. Microsoft hates us. Microsoft wants to destroy us. It's either us or them.

This is, in part, projection from an attitude often expressed by CEO Steve Ballmer and others at Microsoft associated with him. Ballmer remembers when Microsoft was the small, struggling operator constantly engaged in life-or-death struggles with rivals. Visicalc. Novell. IBM. The list goes on. These were manichean struggles, Microsoft history goes, all-or-nothing affairs which Microsoft had to win if it wanted to find its place in the sun.

Which it did. In spades. Despite its recent stagnation, and IBM's long-term comeback, Microsoft  is still worth billions-and-billions more than “big” Blue.

But Microsoft has changed in the last decade. Slowly, hesitatingly, in a very off-and-on way, Microsoft has sought to reach out to open source and get some of its mojo working for it. In response open source advocates who remember the “old” Microsoft hate the company with a passion.

Microsoft's latest move to embrace open source is to hire Gianugo Rabellino as senior director, open source communities. Gianugo's open source credentials are impeccable. He's vice president the Apache XML project and founded his own open source business, SourceSense. As he noted on his blog, Boldly Open, he's been “paying his bills with open source for 18 years now.”

Gianugo's charge is limited to one word – interoperability. As he explained at a recent webcast on Microsoft's Port25, Windows and open source need to work together on users' interest. In an interview he insisted he had been persuaded to move to Redmond by Microsoft's actions, over several years. “If it makes business sense, if it solves a customer problem, then Microsoft will look at it,” he said.

What does this mean for you? It means if you're a Windows shop, you need not be closed to open source. There are tons of great open source projects, under Windows, you can use and support with enthusiasm.

And if you're not a Windows shop, then feel free to grab your pitchfork and head over to Larry's place. He'll gladly play French Taunter with you.