Microsoft has grown to what it is now through its closed-source software. But back in 2014, the tech giant started to loosen up by founding the .NET Foundation. At the same time, Microsoft announced the open sourcing of its .NET Framework. The company continues to make strides as its tech rivals Google and Samsung have come to realize the benefit of open source software development.
Microsoft's Role In The Open Source Community
Perhaps to prove Microsoft's commitment to the open source community, it now has joined the Linux Foundation as a platinum member. According to Ars Technica, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin revealed that the company is better able to collaborate with the community to deliver transformative mobile and cloud experiences to more people.
Prior to this, Microsoft has already been contributing to Linux by improving support for its Hyper-V hypervisor. It should also be noted that its Visual Studio Code is free and open-source. Though the source code editor's official download is still under a proprietary license.
Google And Samsung Joining Microsoft's .NET Foundation
Google will be joining Microsoft's .NET Foundation. This comes as a surprise that Google actually prefers .NET than Java. The company's reason might have something to do with what Zemlin said about cloud experiences. Google can work to improve the support of .NET to its Google Cloud Platform.
According to Forbes, Samsung's membership in the .NET Foundation will enable developers to build applications for the Korean-based company's more than 50 devices. They will not be limited to Samsung's Android smartphones. It includes other devices like Samsung TVs, smartwatch and IoT gadgets.
Microsoft And Apple?
It was recently reported that Microsoft will be releasing a Visual Studio for Mac. The news was even announced on the company's site. Though it had already been removed from the web. A preview is supposed to be launched during Microsoft's Connect event this week. A Visual Studio for Mac will benefit developers who are using macOS instead of Windows.
