Microsoft embraces open source -- to a point

Infoworld - Microsoft has made public its embrace of open source, evolving from being essentially a proprietary software company to getting involved in multiple open source efforts. These have included participating in the Apache Software Foundation and forming the CodePlex open source project hosting site and the Outercurve Foundation (formerly CodePlex Foundation) to bridge open source and business communities. In 2012, the company unveiled Microsoft Open Technologies, a subsidiary focused on advancing Microsoft's investment in open source, standards and interoperability.

Recently, Microsoft announced an integration between the popular open source Git-distributed revision control system and the company's Visual Studio development tools. InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill interviewed Gianugo Rabellino, senior director of open source communities at Microsoft Open Technologies, about the company's latest perspectives on open source.

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InfoWorld: What's been your outreach at this point?

Rabellino: Open Technologies was launched officially on April 16, so as the first anniversary approaches, there are a number of topics that we are involved with that I think it would be interesting to talk about. The most recent that we launched was VM Depot, [providing] open source images for Windows Azure.

InfoWorld: What are these images of?

Rabellino: We have images for the major open source frameworks, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, You name it. If there is a popular open source application, it's probably there. The 100th image was released on a hardened version of Ubuntu.

InfoWorld: Will Microsoft ever make Windows open source?

Rabellino: I'm not aware of any plans in that direction. Just open sourcing isn't quite enough. The problem is what's behind it? So open sourcing without bringing up the developer community and letting people in to contribute, it's just code that you throw every now and then over the wall. Open sourcing without understanding what is the impact on standards and interoperability, is again an effort that nowadays only brings you this far. We've seen a lot of change. Microsoft is increasingly becoming what we call a devices and services company. What we're seeing is that the two worlds are becoming more and more connected.

InfoWorld: Does Microsoft plan to open source any Windows Phone technologies?

Rabellino: I am not aware of any plans.

InfoWorld: I read that Windows Phone is going to have a lot of growth, but it's still going to be way behind Apple iOS and Google Android. Would Microsoft consider some kind of open-source maneuver to get more developer interest, to get more use of Windows Phone?