OStatic

When Microsoft announced it was planning to offer lightweight, web-based versions of some of its Office components, there was some speculation that maybe it could be used with alternate browsers. It seemed Firefox would be a likely candidate beyond IE, and some ventured to wonder about Safari.

Even if Firefox was supported, it didn't seem likely this suite would be specifically web based, so it would need Windows, right? According to a few sources it seems as if that might not be the case. Though the source is a Microsoft Community member blog (and not a pronouncement from corporate sources) the concept of this service on Mac and Linux is fascinating because it suggests so much about what Microsoft might be thinking.

There is buzz going around today about a comparison, done by Pingdom, of uptime for the home pages of 18 operating system makers, including Microsoft, Apple, and providers of most popular Linux distros. While the Pingdom post does say that it is not intended to point any fingers, it kind of does so by default. I agree with Dana Blankenhorn that the results make Microsoft look unnecessarily bad.

Interesting news is rolling in about two sites that aggregate open source information and resources: OpenLogic's Wazi, and Microsoft's CodePlex. Wazi is the Swahili word for open, and is a new effort from OpenLogic, which provides enterprise open source solutions, to provide original content on topics such as how open source packages can efficiently work together. Meanwhile, Microsoft's open source chief Sam Ramji recently told The Register that its CodePlex site could be revised by year's end, after charges that the site listed projects with licenses that go against open source principles.

The Moonlight team has announced that the first beta release of Moonlight 1.0 is nearly ready for testing. Moonlight is an open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight product.

The project hopes to get new contributors to come aboard as it finalizes the 1.0 release and pushes forward to Moonlight 2.0. Developer Chris Toshok points to some of the upcoming development tasks, and says that because the 2.0 release will be larger and features numerous self-contained subsystems, developers have more opportunity to make a solid impact on the project.

Much is being said about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's comments on open source in Australia this week. As GigaOm notes, Ballmer took a bold swipe at Google's Android platform while speaking Down Under, but he also directly said he found open source browser engines interesting. ? Among other things implied here, there could be some big changes in how browsers compete.

GigaOm has an interesting post up today on Microsoft's effort to woo startups and combat the open source movement. Its new BizSpark initiative is being rolled out in 82 countries, and offers many types of incentives to developers and startups. It also steers people toward Microsoft's products, though, and challenges open source in several ways.