OStatic

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This week, the European Commission announced its preliminary satisfaction with a settlement offer proposed by Microsoft that would end an antitrust battle that has been simmering for over 10 years. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith posted a response that said: We welcome today?s announcement by the European Commission to move forward with formal market testing of Microsoft?s proposal relating to web browser choice in Europe. We also welcome the opportunity to take the next step in the process regarding our proposal to promote interoperability with a broad range of our products.?

As Smith alludes to, a big part of the proposed settlement has to do with Microsoft including a browser ballot window in Internet Explorer that lists a broad array of browsers and allows users to choose which one to use. Opponents of that proposal, including Mozilla and Opera, have criticized the fact that the ballot screen is found within Internet Explorer, which is still bundled with Windows, and the fact that any alternative browser must be downloaded, which many users will be too lazy to do. So why are Mozilla and Opera being so reticent in the wake of the European announcement?

Is Moblin, the open source mobile operating system initially launched by Intel and now overseen by the Linux Foundation, a potential thorn in Microsoft's side? It seems from Microsoft's own stance toward the early stage netbook- and smartphone-focused OS, that it is not. There are also reports that Microsoft may in fact favor Moblin among Linux-based operating systems aimed at computers that Windows might otherwise run on.

Last week, at the Intel Developer Forum conference, Microsoft's Silverlight team demonstrated the Silverlight 3 web application framework running on both Windows 7 and Moblin Atom chip-based devices.? The announcement from the Silverlight team was very ecumenical, describing the Novell-sponsored open source Moonlight implementation of Silverlight as aimed at the broad range of Linux platforms, while Silverlight 3 will be especially adept at running on Moblin. What is Microsoft's real stance toward Moblin?

Microsoft is scrambling to counter conclusions made in a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, which suggest that India could save $2 billion if open source software solutions hit 50 percent adoption across its economy in 2010. As a story from New Delhi, running in the Business Standard reports, even if isolated categories of open source software such as server operating systems and antivirus software see broad adoption, the cost savings could be substantial.

Microsoft is firing back with its usual claims about support and other issues representing hidden costs that actually make open source more expensive than its proprietary software. There is an interesting footnote to the war of words, though: Red Hat was the sponsor of the study. Whose numbers are correct?

Microsoft has co-founded and launched its new CodePlex Foundation, which it will supply the initial funding for, and is focused on open source. According to the foundation's site, the non-profit organization will be providing a forum in which best practices and shared understanding can be established by a broad group of participants, both software companies and open source communities.

Sam Ramji (shown), senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft, and a noted open source advocate, announced the initiative and appears to be currently leading it. However, OStatic has heard reports that Ramji is leaving Microsoft, although there are also reports that he is only moving from Microsoft to preside over the new foundation. At the time of this writing, there is no confirmation from Microsoft on that point, but we have reached out to Sam and company spokespeople, and will update. Here are more details.