Comments on: Microsoft finally acknowledges that open source is mainstream

Microsoft may have finally acknowledged that open source is mainstream. About time.

[ncalishome]

Microsoft: forking jQuery in 3...2...1 :)

I do hope they play nice. jQuery is a darn nice JS library and it would benefit everyone getting another huge heap of developers behind it.

[mrjzn]

"[W]e're using jQuery just as it is. It's Open Source, and we'll use it and ship it via its MIT license, unchanged. If there's changes we want, we'll submit a patch just like anyone else."

... Let's just hope it sticks!

[Arthur Belle Dent]

Porcine aviator on the horizon?

[admoore]

Oh yeah, MS loves open source.... as long as it's:
- Not Linux
- Not copyleft (note the MIT license in this case)
- Adds value to their product line at no cost.

How is this any different than when they snuggled up to the Apache and Zend? Or incorporated Python into .NET?

[penguiniator]

They're blowing a mighty big horn over this use of a single library, which, as was already mentioned, is under a very permissive MIT license. Or maybe they just have their public announcement amplifier set too high. No matter. I'm sure it's as significant as they, and you, say it is.

Does no one remember that they used to include the tcp/ip stack from freeBSD in Windows 95 and siblings? No? It's understandable. Those were the days before Open Source was even invented as a marketing term, and it preceded the days when Microsoft publicly decried Linux as a communist movement, when it was more advantageous for them to HIDE their use of iron curtain technology, instead of PROCLAIM it PROUDLY. It's kind of like the difference between hiding porn under your bed and buying a billboard saying you do.

Alright, they included a single 15KB library from among thousands available and have announced that they could even contribute back to its development. Wow... I'm so impressed by this. I just can't tell ya. Again, it's like the difference between snatching up used copies of smut magazines and considering paying for a subscription. (I'm having way too much fun with this.)

One day, maybe Microsoft will grow out of its awkward attitude toward Free Software and will be able to look it straight in the eye without feeling it necessary to compensate for how uncomfortable they actually are.

Am I missing something here? Or are you really as gullible as Microsoft hopes everyone is over this?