Microsoft is joining the OpenChain Project to help standardize open source licensing. Microsoft has been engaged in the open source community even before their $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub, and now them becoming a platinum member of the OpenChain Project further shows their commitment in this area. As pointed out by GeekWire, other noteworthy members include Google, Facebook, and ARM.
For those unfamiliar, the OpenChain Project is part the Linux Foundation’s mission to take the differentiating licenses of the many open source projects out there and standardize them into a single universal license. This is particularly helpful for large-scale enterprises made up of multiple open source technologies, as having a single license disclosure as opposed to many would help make matters less complicated.
“Trust is key to open source, and compliance with open source licenses is an important part of building that trust. By joining the OpenChain Project, we look forward to working alongside the community to define compliance standards that help build confidence in the open source ecosystem and supply chain,” stated Microsoft’s Assistant General Counsel David Rudin. It’s clear with Microsoft invested in the open source world, they also want to help improve standardizing of licensing agreements, especially given the number of open source technologies many companies incorporate into their Azure projects.
