Our closing keynote will be delivered by Gianugo Rabellino, Chief Executive Officer of Sourcesense and member of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF).

t seems we’ve arrived upon Microsoft open source. In the last couple of years, whenever there was discussion of Microsoft’s open source projects and efforts such as CodePlex or Port25, there was typically the standard open source response: it’s not OSI-approved; it’s not real open source.

Oh sure. Microsoft loves open source. If your open source company is willing to admit Microsoft owns Linux, acknowledge the legitimacy of its proprietary standards, and put “whatever Microsoft wants.”

Here's a Microsoft quote on Mozilla:

"...Proprietary technologies give more control and power to the software vendors, while Open technologies (like the Open Web) give more freedom to the users. By promoting proprietary technologies, Adobe and Microsoft are trying to squeeze more value from the developers and pass it over to their shareholders.

Steven Martin, Microsoft's senior director of developer platform management, discusses Microsoft's call for an open process to define cloud computing going forward. Essentially, Martin expressed concern about a so-called "Cloud Manifesto" and Microsoft's view that it is biased to benefit its authors.

Microsoft’s proposed $45 billion buy of Yahoo would give the Redmond, Wash company control over a top open source e-mail company, open source projects and an open source infrastructure. On September 17 of 2007, Yahoo bought Zimbra for $350 million. Yahoo’s infrastructure is built on BSD. Yahoo has released a myriad of software to the open source community and even sponsors some open source projects. So this deal would put Microsoft directly into the open source software business.

There is power in authority. Microsoft's strategy against open source uses authority. It ties up institutions that are authoritative, that have power over professions, creating a benefit for the institution that ties its members to proprietary Microsoft tools....To Microsoft open source is not an end in itself. It is a marketing tool. It is a way to gain lock-in with important customer sets.

one could argue that Microsoft – once blessed with the open source label – will only abuse its status. The company could claim to be a huge open source supporter, derailing critics' arguments by displaying nothing more than the OSI logo when needed.

Chris DiBona, Google's open source manager, seems to fall into this cynical camp.