Open Source Group Gives Its Blessing To New Microsoft Licenses
The Open Source Initiative Board has approved two new licenses submitted by Microsoft saying that the “consensus from the open source community [is] that these licenses satisfied the 10 criteria of the Open Source definition, and should therefore be approved.”
The move may surprise some, given that Microsoft is openly hostile to other open source licenses, but the OSI announcement says that the submission and approval process with Microsoft was “constructive” and that Microsoft “didn’t ask for special treatment and didn’t receive any.”
That doesn’t of course mean that everyone was happy with the decision. The vote was not unanimous and several OSI members have previously expressed their concerns on the site. In a rant posted late this summer, Eric Raymond decries Microsoft’s handling of the OOXML voting process and says that OSI approval the two Microsoft licenses might not be good for the community.
“Despite my previous determination, I find I’m almost ready to recommend that OSI tell Microsoft to ram its licenses up one of its own orifices, even if they are technically OSD compliant.” Raymond writes. “Because what good is it to conform to the letter of OSD if you’re raping its spirit?”
Despite these reservations the OSI has approved the licenses. Interested developers can read through both the Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL) and the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL) on the OSI site.
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