Brian Masinick
While Microsoft has been against any kind of open software over the years, they have actually joined many so-called “open” forums and is a contributor to several code projects that can be freely used by others. What I see is that they do contribute in some places that share software, but still vigorously retain any assets they have that are “non-free” in any way.
What this says to me is that anywhere Microsoft CONTRIBUTES free software themselves under FREE licenses, any of us should be SAFE in such places. As long as whatever code in GIT has already been freely licensed, Microsoft cannot take away any PAST or CURRENT freedom, but they could fork and privately license future work. I doubt that they will do that, but I do believe that they will still vigorously defend (charge and prosecute) to maintain anything for which they own an exclusive license, patent, or other legal mechanism that they are allowed by law to license and protect.
As long as you know which efforts are freely licensed and which are not, there should be no conflicts. Each person has a right to choose how to react; I choose not to fear, but to be aware of what is taking place.
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Brian Masinick
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