News Microsoft open-sources SPOT

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/11/17/microsoft-open-sources-spot/1

Microsoft has announced that it is to license its .NET Micro Framework - developed from its Smart Personal Objects Technology project - under the Apache 2.0 licence.

 

It's not too common to see MS open source anything so this is most welcome. These kind of gadgets seem interesting but at the moment I don't think the benefits you can get from them justify the costs. We have all that and more in our phones right now so I'm not willing to pay extra just so I can look at my watch to know if it's chilly outside when I can look at the phone in my pocket or just open up a window.

 

With the network stopping at 2012, I can see MS using this as a test case of opening small bits of code to the public, and using it as a gauge to see how many dev's would take up the torch.
While I would like to applaud them for doing it, they are shooting themselves in the foot at the same time. No one will want to develop something that has the equivalent of a 2yr life span unless you can find a major financial backer to reinstate the network; or rebuild the package to work off of a highly restricted phone network or spotty wifi.

 

I can only see this being another MS failure to understand the open source community. Devs want to be paid for their code, which is reasonable. Under the GPL they're paid in code. Under the Apache license, there is a high probability they will not be paid anything. If I'm a C++ dev and I want to spend my spare time coding on other people's projects, then I'm more likely to go with a GPL'd project or start a new project myself under a restrictive license with a view to taking it proprietary in the future.

 

they probably chose Apache license because it's not as hostile towards proprietary stuff as GPL is.

 

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