Microsoft gets a new open-source chief

Sam Ramji just got a promotion: Sam will now be running Microsoft's worldwide open-source and Linux team (roughly 120 people and counting).

Sam had been the director of Microsoft's open-source software lab. In this new role, he'll continue to oversee the lab but also take on a more strategic role within the company (and, by extension, within the industry).

I've known Sam for a few years now, and both like and respect him. We've had enough disagreements for me to know that while he's an active open-source proponent, he's not easily swayed by anemic reasoning (for or against Microsoft). He's a guy who recently told me that he has run Office 2003 and World of Warcraft on CrossOver (WINE) on Ubuntu (verdict: performance "not too bad"). He has an open-source-friendly background.

Sam's promotion is good for Microsoft. It's also good for open source, as I see him as a credible, earnest advocate for open source within Microsoft. He has earned his stripes within commercial and community-based open-source projects. I've heard some of open source's oldest advocates praise his name.

Let the constructive dialogue begin (or, rather, continue).

[emverdes]

Matt,
for a dialogue to take place, there's have to be two persons. I feel there's no dialogue between the Free and Open Source Community and Microsoft, at this time. For a dialogue, Microsoft needs lots more Sams and less Balmers and lawyers. As such a dialogue is much needed for both Microsoft customers and FLOSS users, I hope Microsoft doesn't take much time to realize this and make the needed changes, but I can't trust this will happen in the short time. Anyway, I think it will take lots of time for Microsoft to gain the confidence of the FLOSS community.

[eriktown]

I think Microsoft's making some pretty good steps in regards to the dialogue you're talking about, emverdes. Last month Microsoft invited a bunch of folks from the Apache Software Foundation to meet with them, myself included. We worked on creating just that sort of dialogue, both on technical matters in terms of access to developers and technical assistance as well as matters of licensing and policy. I had the pleasure of meeting Sam, and the sense that I got was that Microsoft really is committed to working with the community, and is willing to do the work needed to make that happen.

[russ danner]

Well a watched blog never posts.... I went out for a walk and when i got back.. 10 new posts... anyway....

I met Sam at OSBC this year during a session on 'What Open Source could learn form Microsoft' -- for what it's worth, I was impressed. Sam definitely seems to be good for Open Source and Microsoft. It's not going to be easy to bring Microsoft's ship around but there are those within her ranks fighting the good fight. Congrats Sam.