Steve Ballmer once said 'Linux is a cancer'. Times have changed a lot, and since Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft, Linux and Open Source have become really important for Redmond's company. Azure is based on Linux, for example, and this OS dominates the cloud platform with about half of Azure VMs being Linux ones). Running Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, SuSE or Fedora is also possible natively under Windows 10 through Windows Subsystem for Linux.
The company has made big strategic acquisitions, and Microsoft recently acquired Github, but that approach to Linux and Open Source goes further with the new announcement. Microsoft has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), a consortium that defines itself as a "shared defensive patent pool with the mission to protect Linux". With that move, Microsoft is bringing 60,000 patents to OIN that will be available royalty-free to anyone who joins the OIN community.
OIN has more than 2,650 members (Google, IBM, Red Hat, Sony, Philips, or Facebook are among the biggest ones) and even with the latest moves from Microsoft, this last announcement has surprised many people. Erich Andersen, Microsoft's corporate VP and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel confirmed that idea: "We know Microsoft's decision to join OIN may be viewed as surprising to some; it is no secret that there has been friction in the past between Microsoft and the open-source community over the issue of patents."
The move is a major change for Microsoft, that has been making big moves to transform that relationship with Linux and Open Source in the last five or six years. As Scott Guthrie, another Microsoft executive, told to ZDNet, "at the end of the day, we've shown by our actions that we're serious about open source". OIN's CEO, Keith Bergelt, explained Microsoft's stance: "They aren't trying to sell you something. Microsoft really has been changing. No one's made a longer journey than Microsoft from a proprietary software company to one that lives with Open Source.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
The company has made big strategic acquisitions, and Microsoft recently acquired Github, but that approach to Linux and Open Source goes further with the new announcement. Microsoft has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), a consortium that defines itself as a "shared defensive patent pool with the mission to protect Linux". With that move, Microsoft is bringing 60,000 patents to OIN that will be available royalty-free to anyone who joins the OIN community.
OIN has more than 2,650 members (Google, IBM, Red Hat, Sony, Philips, or Facebook are among the biggest ones) and even with the latest moves from Microsoft, this last announcement has surprised many people. Erich Andersen, Microsoft's corporate VP and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel confirmed that idea: "We know Microsoft's decision to join OIN may be viewed as surprising to some; it is no secret that there has been friction in the past between Microsoft and the open-source community over the issue of patents."
The move is a major change for Microsoft, that has been making big moves to transform that relationship with Linux and Open Source in the last five or six years. As Scott Guthrie, another Microsoft executive, told to ZDNet, "at the end of the day, we've shown by our actions that we're serious about open source". OIN's CEO, Keith Bergelt, explained Microsoft's stance: "They aren't trying to sell you something. Microsoft really has been changing. No one's made a longer journey than Microsoft from a proprietary software company to one that lives with Open Source.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
