- Saturday, 21 November 2009
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There's one thing I can promise you about the space program. Your tax dollars will go further. - Wernher Von Braun
Microsoft releases more GPL code
MICROSOFT SEEMS TO BE getting all open saucy all of a sudden, as it has released more code under the General Public License (GPL) that's often applied to (gasp!) free software.
The Vole sent out some code to help Linux virtualisation guests run under Windows Hyper-V hosts earlier this week and now it has released code for the open source online learning system Moodle.
The code Microsoft released is a Live Services Plug-in for Moodle licenced under the GPLv2.
Writing in his bog, Peter Galli, a community manager for Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group, said that the plug-in adds Microsoft's Live@edu services such as e-mail, calendar, instant messaging and search directly into the Moodle user experience and makes them available via single sign-on.
Moodle is an open sauce course management system that teachers use to build online learning websites for their classes. It is said to have about 30 million users in 207 countries.
The Volish plug-in is the first of what will be a set of software releases for the education community that Microsoft will make available for download online via its Education Labs Web site.
But while it is releasing such code, the Vole says it will continue to make deals with companies to collect royalties for patents it claims to hold on technologies used in Linux and other free and open source software. µ
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Good move by Microsoft. I wish my University used Moodle or any other e-Learning system for that matter. We're stuck using the extremely expensive WebCT/Blackboard which is buggy and frustrating to use. Lecturers use about 1% of the features it offers and it just seems like a messy, bloated package.
Moodle with Live integration would be nice to have and it's good to see MS supporting (even for their own benefit) an open-source platform like Moodle.
The Empire Strikes Back!
Microsoft has launched it's attack on the Open Sauce Community.
Use our nice free open software, it's the cat's meow! (snickering under breath: "the fools!")
Microsoft is just positioning the hook, once the fish bite, it will tug on the line to plant the hook in deep, then haul the fish up.
Don't forget that Linux infringes 235 Microsoft patents. They said that 235 times.
Boy are they spinning this one. They didn't have any choice but to release, because they were in breach of the GPL in the first place. See here:-
http://linux-network-plumber.blogspot.com/2009/07/congratulations-microsoft.html
But Microsoft will end up on the short end of the stick sooner or later.