Microsoft warms to sharing code

Microsoft's CodePlex is a collaborative developer portal, designed to ease the firm's anti-open-source stance

Microsoft has edged closer to the collaborative software development community, announcing moves to share code and improve interoperability with key open-source programs.

At the Open Source Business Conference in London, Microsoft detailed formal plans for CodePlex, a portal for developing and sharing source code and tools. It is based on Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server, Microsoft’s platform for managing projects and squashing problems within and outside development teams.

The site already houses over 30 projects, including those based on Microsoft’s Shared Source Initiative and CodePlex has had over 100,000 visits since beta-testing began in May, Microsoft said.

Microsoft has also shown itself to be much more pliable in terms of open-source interoperability recently, promising to work with the JBoss application server, MySQL database and SugarCRM customer relationship management software.

A Microsoft speaker at the conference said it was necessary for the software giant to work in a heterogeneous world.

“[In former public-sector roles] I remember the agony of getting competing products to work together,” said Jerry Fishenden, Microsoft UK National Technology Officer.

“IT buyers don’t care whether it’s Java or .Net, closed- or open-source. They just want stuff that works. We’re trying to correct the misapprehension that it’s Microsoft versus open source.”