CSO

Microsoft hasn't historically been known as the warm and fuzzy friend of open source, and recent threats around patent litigation haven't served to abate that perception. But there is hope - and it lies in the realm of identity. This infoworld article highlights Microsoft's recent actions around funding projects for open source identity.

It all begins with the OSP (Open Specification Promise) -- a pledge that Microsoft announced at last year's Digital ID World (see what you missed?). Essentially, it was Microsoft publicly telling developers that they could develop open source instantiations of the "InfoCard" (non-Microsoft version of CardSpace) without fear of reprisal from Redmond. That promise has now been continued via the ISIP (Identity Selector Interoperability Profile) - a tool that helps developers work on open source identity projects (and includes various pieces of the WS-* specifications).

The "funding of open source" part comes in via Microsoft's involvement in identity projects at SourceForge and RubyForge -- and in their stated desire to see ISIP work for things like java servers, Apache Tomcat, Websphere, PHP and Ruby on Rails. This is certainly not your mama's Microsoft. ;-)

Obviously, work like this isn't simply the work of a few, but there are two guys inside of Microsoft that have been lugging the "identity stone" up the sisphean Microsoft hill -- Kim Cameron and Mike Jones. Kim and Mike have been preaching this gospel both inside and outside of Microsoft for several years now, and it looks like their hard work is now paying off many times over.

--Eric Norlin