OStatic

When we first told you about the Open Source Census back in April, there were already a number of sponsors, "with more expected to sign on in the future." Well, today, another sponsor was announced and the name may surprise you -- or maybe not. Microsoft. As expected, some open source supporters are in a twist over the news, while others are waxing philosophical.

ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley thinks that perhaps the move is motivated by Microsoft's desire for greater interoperability with open source systems, and also to gain a "better understanding of where/how open-source software is gaining traction in enterprises in order to better fight it."

eWeek's Darryl Taft takes much the same view of the "interesting wrinkle in the company's strategy," but acknowledges, "Microsoft is serious about supporting open source in some respects and fiercely competing with it in others."

Information Week's J. Nicholas Hoover (no relation), says the community shouldn't be too quick to assume the move means Microsoft is getting ready to jump into the deep end of the open source community pool. "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called the open source model 'inconsistent with shareholder value' just last year," he notes.

Supporting the notion that Microsoft's sposorship may not be entirely altruistic, Jay Lyman, an analyst with The 451 Group tells Chris Kanaracus with the IDG News Service, "I've met with Sam and there's no question those guys are smart with what they're doing with open source... They definitely have changed. Is it genuine? Some of it is and some of it may be less so."

Although there will always be a segment of the open source community that is suspicious of anything Microsoft does -- from entering into an agreement with the Eclipse Foundation, to its support of SourceForge's Community Choice Awards -- others concede that the move is likely part of a larger plan to finally become a good citizen within the FOSS community.

• Microsoft
• open source census