MicrOSoft pt. 4 – GM of OSS is no April Fool’s joke!

Today’s The Register article by Gavin Clarke reports that James Utzschneider has been appointed as Microsoft’s general manager of open source.  Gavin’s article, entitled “Microsoft clutches open source to its corporate heart – New GM vows end to religious war“,  sets out the significance of this announcement and explains why “Utzschneider’s appointment represents a major elevation in the attention open source now gets inside Microsoft”.  As quoted in this exclusive The Reg interview, James believes that “the days of religion have gone” and that “the overall theme is that it’s OK for open-source products and Microsoft products to work together. There’s a growing Microsoft ecosystem that we are going to encourage.”

This appointment, one part of the warming relationship between Microsoft and open source, is further support for my somewhat tongue in cheek claim that OS has been part of MicrOSoft’s name all along.  And now it is time for me to get back to my birthday cake!