Microsoft and Apache - What's the Angle?

[fatality_uk]

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/12068_3762786_1

I have been racking my brains about this story and still don't get it! Perhaps I haven't twisted my 1920's, silent film, evil villain moustache enough! For me, there seems to be no logic. I know the hype angles, but what's the real angle. Trying hard to work it out.

[klange]

There are quite a few possibilities:
1. It's a bribe. They want the Apache Foundation to work on stuff other than httpd, so they're bribing them as such.
2. Microsoft just isn't evil and are giving money to a worthy cause. Ha.
3. Microsoft knows Apache's httpd is far superior to IIS and is embracing it. Haha.

[Daveski]

I saw somewhere the $100,000 likened to a rouding error as far as the MS kitty goes. It is a miniscule amount - a token, but now MS can legitimately claim that they are contributing, and are taking 'interoperability' seriously.

[wrtpeeps]

This is not the first time Microsoft have donated to open source.

Microsoft practically bankrolled XEN, though it was never done publically.

[Dr Small]

Whatever the scheme, it isn't good.

[Paqman]

Apache is one of the most important pieces of software in the world. Why wouldn't Microsoft be interested in having a closer relationship with them? Every time someone sets up a WAMP server, that's still a win for them.

[Methuselah]

Obviously MS has done this to derive some benefit.
Given their history with open source it's natural to view their actions with some suspicion.
On the other hand, open source software is free for anyone to play.
It's the nature of the beast.

I like this part of the linked article though:



Fighting open source today would be as sure a road to failure. The last holdout is legislation. Copyright and patent law have been created with only the proprietary model in mind. Their legislation is driven today by media conglomerates hawking an ever increasing need to combat "piracy," while the world at large has taken up the creation of content that can be shared without fear or shame. Nobody envisioned the Wikipedia, open source, Creative Commons.

Now, it's time for legislatures to wake up: national and international law must adapt to make the world safe for both open source and proprietary software development. Corporate and government purchasing policy must place open source and proprietary software on an equal footing. Open standards without royalties or discrimination, the true drivers of interoperability, must be recognized as the basis of fair and equitable IT policy everywhere. Only then will we realize the full potential of open source.

[Methuselah]

Here's an arstechnica take:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080725-microsoft-to-sponsor-of-the-apache-software-foundation.html