Faced with the reality of a future where Windows is neither its flagship brand or cash cow, Microsoft’s journey to a cloud and services-centric world means it will be happy enough if users centre their world around Office 365, Bing, Azure, OneDrive and Skype -- even if they use an iPhone or other Android/Linux device to do so.
Establishing this new firmament in the eyes of the always-critical software application developer community was always going to be tough. The firm created its CodePlex free and open source project hosting site back in 2006 with some considerable success. Developers have been able to create software projects to share and download (but let’s say ‘collaborate’ because Microsoft would prefer us to) with others.
The MSDN developer channel has been issuing heartfelt statements pledging to:
“involve the community early as we make design decisions and solicit as much feedback as possible”
… for a solid period of years now since the Microsoft Open Technologies division was founded in April of 2012. Under the stewardship of the firm's Jean (did I mention I helped invent XML?) Paoli, this group has produced solid releases under the
This month has seen Microsoft open-tech chief Jean Paoli announce two new partnerships with Packer.io and OpenNebula. Developers will use Packer to generate virtual machine images and launch them as completely provisioned and configured machines on Windows Server. OpenNebula on the other hand is architecture with interfaces and components to build cloud services and make cloud conform to particular operational policies.
Packer runs on every major operating system explains Paoli. So the ‘run Microsoft everywhere’ story appears to be flying true and straight in this regard at least.
Paoli’s payoff 'cue-applause now please' quote reads as follows:
“We like to say ‘change is a developer’s friend’…as long as the disruption is minimized. In today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world, open platforms are creating new opportunities and creating unexpected partnerships in the industry. Openness is how Microsoft does business – building open platforms that bring value to our customers, partners and developers.”
But is Microsoft really listening to the community? The developer cognoscenti would like to see legacy tools like the Visual Basic versions 6 programming language and IDE (Integrated Development Environment) open sourced, but Microsoft would rather just sell us on migration options in the case of this product. Okay so we can’t quite have it all our own way. This is Microsoft after all.
CTO of Reconnix Steve Nice says that Microsoft is being ‘misleading’ and has for years fought against open source innovation. Nice asserts that Redmond is simply doing what it has to do to gain a foothold in the cloud, where open source is king.
“Microsoft seems to be acting out of necessity rather than want. The company appears to not only have taken on the stance that open source is good, but also that it has been in its plans all along. When considering whether Microsoft is really willing to embrace open source or not, it’s worth noting that the vast majority of its profits are still generated in proprietary software where it enjoys far less competition than it does in the cloud space. Having an ally of the scale of Microsoft can only be a good thing for the open source movement, but it can’t rewrite history or be all things at once.”
Microsoft openness is easy cannon fodder for this kind of commentary it’s true. Rather like the governments of the 1980s suddenly legitimising green ecological concerns, a period of castigating criticism is natural and some would perhaps argue that it is only healthy, right and proper so that Redmond doesn’t get away with too much.
