Microsoft to go open source?

[Renew Deal]

OSDL exec believes Microsoft will make its apps available in open source form

By Manek Dubash, Techworld.com
July 13, 2005

Could Microsoft’s (Profile, Products, Articles) software run eventually on open source systems such as Linux? One top executive of the open source movement believes it could well come true.

Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), told Techworld that the world’s biggest software company, wedded to the business model of selling proprietary, closed technology, that: "as open source software grows, Microsoft will make its applications available in open source form."

He added: "Their customers are also Linux customers, and they are interested in interoperability -- servers and desktops. They will make it available."

In the Techworld interview, Cohen commented on the open source software (OSS) documentation, support for Linux, the OSS movement's relationship with its customers -- and whether the model needs a greater degree of central control in order to increase its focus on more commercial products. He said that the OSDL had recently set up a European office in Luxembourg, and that it was pushing hard to open an office in China.
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http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/07/13/HNmsopensource_1.html?source=NLC-TB2005-07-13