Microsoft to sponsor the Apache Software Foundation

[Harrison]

It was announced yesterday that Microsoft will be contributing $100,000 annually to the Apache Software Foundation, joining Google and Yahoo as platinum sponsors of Apache development.

This seems like a very strange move to me. After all, Apache is the direct rival to Microsoft's own server products, including IIS, and it's server focused Windows 2003 and 2008 OSs. So why are they suddenly supporting it?

Any ideas?

[Buleste]

Probably all these anti competition lawsuits they lost. Also it probably gives them some influence over a rival so that they can develop new software formats "together" (M$ imposing their ideas on Apache). Also if Apache come up with good ideas they could have leased them to Google and Yahoo exclusivly and M$ would've lost out. This way M$ are on a level playing field with Google and Yahoo.

[Harrison]

Yep, I think it was definitely more about Google and Yahoo already contributing to the Apache project, more than Apache itself that made M$ do this. After all M$ now see Google and Yahoo as their direct rivals in the online world. They wouldn't have tried buying Yahoo otherwise.

However AFAIK all of these contributors don't have any influence into the continued development or direction of Apache. They are just giving money to the foundation that supports and runs all of its open source projects, which includes Apache.

But in addition to leveling the playing field I'm sure it will also give M$ a heads up on new development and concepts long before the public, which is always good for continued development of their own server technology to try and keep up wit the opposition, if not ahead of them. The only thing they would need to watch it the addition of open source project code and property into their commercial products.

[Zetr0]

"I sense a disturbance in the force..... as though a million voices all cried out.... and then silenced all at once...."

[Harrison]

Here is something highlighted in a Yahoo news item that hits on one key possibility.

Apache's liberal license
Second is the Apache License that governs the foundation's projects. Many of Microsoft's attacks on open-source software were aimed at the General Public License, which has a reciprocity provision: If you make a change to a GPL project, then distribute software employing that change, you must share the change under the GPL.
The Apache License, though, lets programmers take software and combine it with proprietary software in any way, with no obligation to share. That's how IBM, for example, uses the Apache Web server software in its proprietary WebSphere product.
For Microsoft, that means Apache's projects can be used within Microsoft. And there are some that could be of interest.

You can read this whole news article here.