Microsoft Open Source Skepticism

The cluster centers on sarcastic references to Microsoft's 'love' for open source, debating whether their recent friendliness is genuine or a strategic move, given their history of hostility like 'embrace, extend, extinguish'.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Open Source
4,047
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#9723
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
3
2008
25
2009
88
2010
121
2011
106
2012
112
2013
133
2014
232
2015
366
2016
376
2017
203
2018
448
2019
247
2020
337
2021
331
2022
252
2023
219
2024
202
2025
236
2026
10

Keywords

MS IT PHP FOSS OSS TONS PR MIT MVP GP microsoft open source open source open sourcing sourcing ms embrace loves linux

Sample Comments

jlgaddis Oct 26, 2020 View on HN

Perhaps, but Microsoft "loves" open-source now, remember?

titaphraz Apr 21, 2025 View on HN

Microsoft loves open source, remember? It doesn't love you.

deogeo Jun 30, 2019 View on HN

Is this the "new, open-source friendly" Microsoft?

tomduncalf May 19, 2017 View on HN

It's open source under the Apache Licence. Worst case scenario, the community would fork it and take over, but I don't think doing so would be remotely in Microsoft's interests. I genuinely believe the Microsoft of today is a totally different company in its attitude to open source software than it was even 10 years ago.

yazzku Feb 10, 2024 View on HN

Looks like this is another case of "Microsoft loves Open Source" then.

yarrel Jul 1, 2019 View on HN

Microsoft love Open Source.User freedom, not so much.

12_throw_away May 17, 2025 View on HN

Ugh, awful news, but a good reminder of what Microsoft's commitment to open source actually looks like; if they can't embrace, extend, and extinguish (see recent VSCode moves), they're not really interested.

jmillikin Apr 4, 2013 View on HN

Microsoft has a history of being hostile to the open-source and free-software communities. They release "shared source" code under licenses with onerous terms or encumbered with patents. In the event that an open-source project built on their technology becomes popular, Microsoft attempts to smother it (for example, see their treatment of Mono).I trust Google about as much as I trust Red Hat, Canonical, or any other company with a history of friendly interaction with the community. While I'm

naveen_ Oct 17, 2019 View on HN

I think Microsoft is becoming an open-source company!

arcanemachiner Nov 17, 2023 View on HN

But... But... I thought Microsoft ♥ open source?