06.09.08
Microsoft Tries to Gradually Weave Together Its Codeplex and SourceForge
Embrace, extends and… you know the rest
We warned about this quite a while ago and on several occasions we showed how it had developed [1, 2, 3, 4]. Don’t take it from us though. Take it from Microsoft’s explanation of the situation. Here is it from Fort 25 [sic].
Microsoft & Sourceforge
[…]
So here’s how to get involved: If you’re a project contributor, maintainer, or user – visit http://sourceforge.net/community/cca08/ - Select ‘Nominate’ and get started recognizing your favorite OSS Projects. You can ‘Search’ for projects too – Sourceforge has developed a clever widget that returns results across forges. In the case below, I searched for ‘XNA’ and received multiple Codeplex results.
Very nice. How long before SourgeForge is filled with Windows-only applications that rely on Microsoft’s proprietary stack for their operation? Remember: to Microsoft, “open source” is just some development methodology.
The moves from Microsoft are worrisome and the example above just part of a bigger picture. That would ‘dilute’ SourceForge.net to the point where the site no longer has much to do with Free software, let alone GNU/Linux. It would also give away partial administration rights to the company which compared open source to “communism” and Linux to “a cancer”.
Speaking of embrace-and-extend maneuvers, don’t forget the Microsoft-oriented XenSource, which appears to be extending.
For example, Citrix says that XenServer sales continue to double each quarter and that all the major x86 server vendors are actively bundling and shipping the product. Citrix has also increased the number of trained XenServer resellers from 300 to more than 2,500 in that timeframe. Finally, Citrix is making internal investments in sales and marketing staff and actually delivered a new version of XenServer this March. Sounds like progress to me.
It is likely that Microsoft will continue to use its money to invade and control its rivals’ side. It just needs to smile and play innocent while doing all of this. █
“People everywhere love Windows.”
–Bill Gates
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
aeshna said,
June 9, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I’ve never understood most people’s obliviousness to the most blatant threats. To not understand that Microsoft is trying to subvert Sourceforge is cluelessness on the level of the crowds cheering Chamberlain announcing “peace in our time” at Heston Aerodrome on 30 September 1938 or environmentalists saying human population growth isn’t a threat to the environment or the European left telling us that importing huge muslim populations into Europe isn’t going to end the pleasant lifestyle of Europe since World War II or so forth. Is it really that hard to look around and think?