Microsoft licenses open source project from MVPs
Note: this entry has moved.
In a major achievement for MVPs contributing to the Mvp.Xml project, a couple weeks ago I signed a license agreement with Microsoft to confer ample rights to use and distribute our code base. This has several implications:- You may see more and more XInclude support in XML configuration files coming out from patterns & practices, as they were the ones that helped navigating the licensing process at Microsoft.
- Our code may be used anywhere Microsoft feels they want to. This is way cool for us :)
- We can continue to deliver new features from the project, and Microsoft will automatically have rights to use that and distribute it. The cool thing about this is that they will no longer be tied to the huge release cycles of their regular products, and may instead choose to release through our channel. And we can also implement stuff that they are reluctant to (for whatever reason) and take away the risk of implementing a feature themselves.
- IMO, this is a very important indication that Microsoft is serious both about the MVP program and what it can deliver, as well as supporting open source communities that are willing to cooperate in ways that do not undermine Microsoft intellectual property rights.
Next targets:
- Reach an agreement with Dare to contribute the EXSLT.NET codebase to our project so that Microsoft automatically gains the rights to use it at will (making the lives of those developing @ and 4 Microsoft WAY easier).
- Once and for all move the Schematron.NET project over to this one. I need to improve it significantly and adapt it to match the ISO draft.
- Seriously start thinking about implementing RelaxNG, as it's another area that could be of interest to Microsoft
- Talk with the XML team about the feasibility of taking code/ideas they would like to see released under our project.