The many obituaries and tributes on the recent death of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen describe the company’s deep roots as an innovator in software and technology in general. Rarely shying from risks, and often, especially in its earlier days, betting the business on the next big thing, Microsoft is a company that has proven to be enduring.
One of the enduring characteristics of the company has been the close protection of its patents on software and other methods of computing. After some difficult years in the early part of the 2000s, when many observers thought that Microsoft had lost its way, become more bureaucratic and bloated, and much less innovative, CEO Satya Nadella has led a Microsoft resurgence on many fronts—financial; technological; and especially collaboratively with the software and open source ecosystem.
Despite all the mood music, it was still a surprise to many when earlier this year Microsoft announced the acquisition of GitHub, for US $7.5 billion in stock, which observers saw as a strong move to get closer to the software development community who for years had been using GitHub as a repository to upload and share code, track software updates, and develop an online community of like-minded individuals. At the time of the acquisition, Nadella announced that the company was going “all in on open source ” and that it would “stay true to the core ethos of developer-first that GitHub has always had.”
Github co-founder Chris Wanstrath with Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, and Microsoft’s Nat Friedman, who has taken over the reins at Github.
More recently, Microsoft joined the Open Invention Network (OIN). The OIN, according to its own website, is “a shared defensive patent pool with the mission to protect Linux.” Any company that works on Linux or Linux-related software may join the network. “Open Invention Network was created to ensure a level playing field for Linux, safeguarding developers, distributors, and users from organizations that would leverage intellectual property to hinder its growth and innovation”, according to OIN.
A LONG EMBRACE?
There’s clearly a business decision for Microsoft in joining this community, especially given its previous antagonistic and in many cases litigious relationship with Linux and other open source developers. As Microsoft grows its footprint with its Azure-based cloud services and finds itself often competing head-to-head with Amazon Web Services, having the right friends in the right places makes good sense.
Cloud technologies gain traction when the community—users, developers, and others—is not tied to any specific operating system, like Windows or Linux, or specific hardware requirements in the data center. By opening up a large component of its patent portfolio and granting a royalty-free and unrestricted license to all OIN members, Microsoft hopes to be gathered in the warm embrace of a larger developer community, as well as gain customers who want their cloud experiences to be as seamless as possible.
“At Microsoft, we take it as a given that developers do not want a binary choice between Windows vs. Linux, or .NET vs Java – they want cloud platforms to support all technologies,” remarked Microsoft deputy general counsel Erich Andersen in announcing the move. “They want to deploy technologies at the edge—on any device—that meet customer needs.”
Microsoft’s move to join OIN is not without controversy, however. Some outspoken commentators have voiced concerns that Microsoft is moving to “embrace, extend, and extinguish” the Linux ecosystem. The argument here is that even though Microsoft is joining OIN, a huge proponent of open source software, it is excluding many of its most important patents. Time will tell which side of the coin will come up.
“We [have] learned that collaborative development through the open source process can accelerate innovation.” – Erich Andersen, Microsoft
