Over the last few years, Microsoft embraced the open source software movement in a pretty big way, with thousands of engineers contributing to open source projects such as Visual Studio Code, TypeScript and .NET. Today, the company made another big step to support open source communities by joining the Open Source Initiative as a premium sponsor.
For those unfamiliar with the OSI, it’s a global non-profit that has been protecting and promoting open source software, development and communities since 1998. By becoming an official sponsor, Microsoft will help the organization to continue its mission of education and advocacy.
In a press release, the OSI acknowledged Microsoft’s increased support for open source projects in recent years:
The company is a leading contributor to open source software projects on GitHub (also an OSI Corporate Sponsor); brought Bash/Linux to Windows 10; expanded its support for Linux and open source workloads on Azure; worked with OSI Affiliate Member FreeBSD Foundation to support the operating system on Azure; joined OSI Affiliate Member Linux Foundation and many of its foundations and projects. In addition, Microsoft works with companies like Canonical, Red Hat, SUSE, and open source can now be found throughout Microsoft products.
If you’re a developer, you can’t deny that the open source movement had a profound impact on the tech industry over the years, and big tech companies like Microsoft have to embrace it. “The work that Open Source Initiative does is vital to the evolution and success of open source as a first-class element in the software industry,” said Jeff McAffer, Director of Microsoft’s Open Source Programs Office. “As Microsoft engages with open source communities more broadly and deeply, we are excited to support the Open Source Initiative’s efforts,” he added.
