In 2001, then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux “a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.” This comment was only one part of Microsoft’s anti open source campaign that began with Bill Gates’ 1976 letter, Open Letter to Hobbyists, which took aim at piracy in the hobbyist community.
Over the past decade, Microsoft has changed its tune on the open source community. It has sponsored open source conferences, hired open source developers, and emerged as one of the top contributors to the Linux kernel. Most recently, Microsoft announced, then postponed, a new Microsoft Store policy designed to prevent outside developers from monetizing previously free and open source software. While the policy would have helped curtail fraud, it also would have inadvertently prevented IP owners from profiting off their own work.
