Microsoft has founded a new foundation, the CodePlex Foundation which claims to be about bringing open-source and proprietary software companies together to participate side by side in open-source projects. Yeah. Right.
There’s a folk tale that goes something like this, a dog and a rattlesnake meet at the river. The snake says to the dog, “Why don’t you carry me on your back to the other side?” The dog says “Sure, I’d be happy to do that except you’ll bite me.” And the snake says “No I won’t, I really need to get across to the other side and I won’t bite you.” The dog, a foolish sort believes the snake’s promise so he lets the snake on his back and he starts to swim across the river. At the mid-way point, the snake bites him. “What did you do that for?” exclaimed the dog, as they both begin to die. “What did you expect,” replied the snake, “I’m a rattlesnake.”
And, Microsoft is Microsoft. The Codex Foundation claims that it “will complement existing open source foundations and organizations, providing a forum in which best practices and shared understanding can be established by a broad group of participants, both software companies and open source communities.” I don’t believe it for a minute.