Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
, a technology company historically known for its opposition to the
open source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...
paradigm, turned to embrace the approach in the 2010s. From the 1970s through 2000s under CEOs
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
and
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball As ...
, Microsoft viewed the community creation and sharing of communal code, later to be known as free and open source software, as a threat to its business, and both executives spoke negatively against it. In the 2010s, as the industry turned towards
cloud
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...
,
embedded, and
mobile computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage, which allows for the transmission of data, voice, and video. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware ...
—technologies powered by open source advances—CEO
Satya Nadella
Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, ...
led Microsoft towards open source adoption although Microsoft's traditional Windows business continued to grow throughout this period generating revenues of 26.8 billion in the third quarter of 2018, while Microsoft's
Azure cloud revenues nearly doubled.
Microsoft open sourced some of its code, including the
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It was the predominant implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) until bein ...
, and made investments in Linux development, server technology, and organizations, including the
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit technology consortium founded in 2000 as a merger between Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group to standardize Linux, support its growth, and promote its commercial adoption. Addi ...
and
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation, with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
The organization wa ...
.
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
-based operating systems power the company's
Azure cloud services. Microsoft acquired
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, cont ...
, the largest host for open source project infrastructure, in 2018. Microsoft is among the site's most active contributors. This acquisition led a few projects to migrate away from GitHub. This proved a short-lived phenomenon because by 2019 there were over 10 million new users of
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, cont ...
.
Since 2017, Microsoft is one of the biggest open source contributors in the world, measured by the number of employees actively contributing to open source projects on GitHub, the largest host of source code in the world.
History
Initial stance on open source
![Altair BASIC Paper Tape](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Altair_BASIC_Paper_Tape.jpg)
The paradigm of freely sharing computer
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the ...
—a practice known as
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized so ...
—traces back to the earliest commercial computers, whose user groups shared code to reduce duplicate work and costs. Following an antitrust suit that forced the unbundling of IBM's hardware and software, a proprietary software industry grew throughout the 1970s, in which companies sought to protect their software products. The technology company
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
was founded in this period and has long been an embodiment of the proprietary paradigm and its tension with open source practices, well before the terms "free software" or "open source" were coined. Within a year of founding Microsoft,
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
wrote an
open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...
that positioned the hobbyist act of copying software as a form of theft.
Microsoft successfully expanded in personal computer and enterprise server markets through the 1990s, partially on the strength of the company's marketing strategies. By the late 1990s, Microsoft came to view the growing open source movement as a threat to their revenue and platform. Internal strategy memos from this period, known as the
Halloween documents
The Halloween documents comprise a series of confidential Microsoft memoranda on potential strategies relating to free software, open-source software, and to Linux in particular, and a series of media responses to these memoranda. Both the lea ...
, describe the company's potential approaches to stopping open source momentum. One strategy was "
embrace-extend-extinguish
"Embrace, extend, and extinguish" (EEE), also known as "embrace, extend, and exterminate", is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found that was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involvin ...
", in which Microsoft would adopt standard technology, add proprietary extensions, and upon establishing a customer base, would lock consumers into the proprietary extension to assert a monopoly of the space. The memos also acknowledged open source as a methodology capable of meeting or exceeding proprietary development methodology. Microsoft downplayed these memos as the opinions of an individual employee and not Microsoft's official position.
While many major companies worked with open source software in the 2000s, the decade was also marked by a "perennial war" between Microsoft and open source in which Microsoft continued to view open source as a scourge on its business and developed a reputation as the archenemy of the free and open source movement. Bill Gates and Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball As ...
suggested free software developers and the Linux kernel were communist. Ballmer also likened
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
to a kind of cancer on intellectual property. Microsoft
sued Lindows, a Linux operating system that could run
Microsoft Windows applications, as a trademark violation. The court rejected the claim and after Microsoft purchased its trademark, the software changed its name to
Linspire
Linspire (formerly Lindows) is a commercial operating system based on Debian and Ubuntu and currently owned by PC/OpenSystems LLC. It had been owned by Linspire. Inc. from 2001 to 2008, and then by Xandros from 2008 to 2017.
On July 1, 2008, Li ...
.
In 2002, Microsoft began experimenting with 'shared source', including the
Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure, the core of
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It was the predominant implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) until bein ...
.
Adoption
2000s
In April 2004,
Windows Installer XML (WiX) was the first
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
project to be released under an open-source license, the
Common Public License. Initially hosted on
SourceForge
SourceForge is a web service that offers software consumers a centralized online location to control and manage open-source software projects and research business software. It provides source code repository hosting, bug tracking, mirroring ...
,
it was also the first Microsoft project to be hosted externally.
In June 2004, for the first time Microsoft was represented with a booth at
LinuxTag
LinuxTag (the name is a compound with the German ''Tag'' meaning assembly, conference or meeting) is a free software exposition with an emphasis on Linux (but also BSD), held annually in Germany. LinuxTag claims to be Europe's largest exhibitio ...
, a free software
exposition
Exposition (also the French for exhibition) may refer to:
*Universal exposition or World's Fair
* Expository writing
** Exposition (narrative)
* Exposition (music)
*Trade fair
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade e ...
, held annually in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. LinuxTag claims to be Europe's largest exhibition for open source software.
In August 2004, Microsoft made the complete source code of the
Windows Template Library (WTL) available under the
Common Public License and released it through SourceForge. Since version 9.1, the library is licensed under the
Microsoft Public License.
In September 2004,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
released its
FlexWiki, making its source code available on SourceForge. The engine is open source, also licensed under the Common Public License. FlexWiki was the third Microsoft project to be distributed via SourceForge, after WiX and Windows Template Library.
In 2005, Microsoft released the
F# programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
under the
Apache License 2.0.
In 2006, Microsoft launched its
CodePlex
CodePlex was a forge website by Microsoft. While it was active, it allowed shared development of open-source software.
Its features included wiki pages, source control based on Mercurial, TFVC, Subversion or Git, discussion forums, issue tracki ...
open source code hosting site, to provide hosting for open-source developers targeting Microsoft platforms. In the same year, Microsoft ported
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. ...
to Windows under
PHP License
The ''PHP License'' is the software license under which the PHP scripting language is released. The PHP License is designed to encourage widespread adoption of the source code. Redistribution is permitted in source or binary form with or wit ...
and also partnered with and commissioned Vertigo Software to create
Family.Show, a free and open-source
genealogy program, as a reference application for Microsoft's latest
UI technology and
software deployment
Software deployment is all of the activities that make a software system available for use.
The general deployment process consists of several interrelated activities with possible transitions between them. These activities can occur on the ...
mechanism at the time,
Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem (similar to WinForms) originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initia ...
and
ClickOnce
ClickOnce is a component of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and later, and supports deploying applications made with Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation. It is similar to Java Web Start for the Java Platform or Zero Install for Linux.
...
. The source code has been published on CodePlex and is licensed under the
Microsoft Public License.
![Steve Ballmer - MIX 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Steve_Ballmer_-_MIX_2008.jpg)
In November 2006, Microsoft and
Novell announced a broad partnership to make sure Windows interoperates with
SUSE Linux. The initial agreement endured until 2012 and included promises not to sue over patents as well as joint development, marketing and support of Windows – Linux interoperability solutions. In addition, Microsoft and Novell agreed to work to ensure documents created in the free
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org (OOo), commonly known as OpenOffice, is a discontinued open-source office suite. Active successor projects include LibreOffice (the most actively developed), Apache OpenOffice, Collabora Online (enterprise ready LibreOffice) a ...
productivity suite can seamlessly work in
Office 2007
Microsoft Office 2007 (codenamed Office 12) is an office suite for Windows, developed and published by Microsoft. It was officially revealed on March 9, 2006 and was the 12th version of Microsoft Office. It was released to manufacturing on Novemb ...
, and vice versa. Both companies also agreed to develop on translators to improve interoperability between
Office Open XML and
OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
formats. The company also purchased 70,000 one-year SUSE Linux Enterprise Server maintenance and update subscription coupons from Novell. Microsoft could distribute the coupons to customers as a way to convince them to choose Novell's Linux rather than a competitor's Linux distribution.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that more customers are running mixed systems and said about the partnership with Novell:
In June 2007,
Tom Hanrahan, former ''Director of Engineering'' at the
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit technology consortium founded in 2000 as a merger between Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group to standardize Linux, support its growth, and promote its commercial adoption. Addi ...
, became Microsoft's ''Director of Linux Interoperability''.
The
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation, with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
The organization wa ...
approved the
Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) and
Microsoft Reciprocal License
The Shared Source Initiative (SSI) is a source-available software licensing scheme launched by Microsoft in May 2001. The program includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses, and most of its source code offerings are available for download aft ...
(MS-RL) in 2007.
Microsoft open sourced
IronRuby
IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language targeting Microsoft .NET Framework. It is implemented on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), a library running on top of the Common Language Infrastructure that provides dynam ...
,
IronPython, and
xUnit.net under MS-PL in 2007.
In 2008, Microsoft joined the
Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is an American nonprofit corporation (classified as a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States) to support a number of open source software projects. The ASF was formed from a group of developers of the A ...
and co-founded the
Open Web Foundation with Google, Facebook, Sun, IBM, Apache, and others.
Also in 2008, Microsoft began distributing the open source
jQuery
jQuery is a JavaScript library designed to simplify HTML DOM tree traversal and manipulation, as well as event handling, CSS animation, and Ajax. It is free, open-source software using the permissive MIT License. As of Aug 2022, jQuery is used ...
JavaScript library together with the
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including web site, websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platfor ...
development environment for use within the
ASP.NET AJAX
ASP.NET AJAX, formerly called Atlas, is a set of extensions to ASP.NET developed by Microsoft for implementing Ajax functionality. It is released under the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL).
Clients supporting Ajax
ASP.NET AJAX runs on the follow ...
and
ASP.NET MVC
ASP.NET MVC is a web application framework developed by Microsoft that implements the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern. It is no longer in active development. It is open-source software, apart from the ASP.NET Web Forms component, which i ...
frameworks.
When Microsoft released
Hyper-V
Microsoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian, and briefly known before its release as Windows Server Virtualization, is a native hypervisor; it can create virtual machines on x86-64 systems running Windows. Starting with Windows 8, Hyper-V superseded W ...
in 2008,
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server became the first non-Windows operating system officially supported on Hyper-V. Microsoft and
Novell signed an agreement to work on interoperability two years earlier.
Microsoft first began contributing to the
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...
in 2009.
The
CodePlex Foundation, an independent
501(c)(6) non-profit corporation founded by Microsoft and led mostly by Microsoft employees and affiliates, was founded in September 2009. Its goal was to "enable the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities." Later in September 2010, the name Outercurve Foundation was adopted.
In November 2009, Microsoft released the source code of the
.NET Micro Framework
The .NET Micro Framework (NETMF) is a .NET Framework platform for resource-constrained devices with at least 512 kB of flash and 256 kB of random-access memory (RAM). It includes a small version of the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR ...
to the development community as free and open-source software under the
Apache License 2.0.
StyleCop, an originally proprietary
static code analysis
In computer science, static program analysis (or static analysis) is the analysis of computer programs performed without executing them, in contrast with dynamic program analysis, which is performed on programs during their execution.
The term i ...
tool by Microsoft, was re-released as an open-source in April 2010 on
CodePlex
CodePlex was a forge website by Microsoft. While it was active, it allowed shared development of open-source software.
Its features included wiki pages, source control based on Mercurial, TFVC, Subversion or Git, discussion forums, issue tracki ...
. Based on customer feedback, Microsoft relicensed
IronRuby
IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language targeting Microsoft .NET Framework. It is implemented on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), a library running on top of the Common Language Infrastructure that provides dynam ...
,
IronPython, and the
Dynamic Language Runtime
The Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) from Microsoft runs on top of the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and provides computer language services for dynamic languages. These services include:
* A dynamic type system, to be shared by all languages using ...
(DLR) under
Apache License 2.0 in July 2010.
Microsoft signed the
Joomla
Joomla (), also spelled Joomla! (with an exclamation mark) and sometimes abbreviated as J!, is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) for publishing web content on websites. Web content applications include discussion forums, ph ...
contributor agreement and started upstreaming improvements in 2010.
2010s
In 2011, Microsoft started contributing code to the
Samba project. The same year, Microsoft also ported
Node.js
Node.js is an open-source server environment. Node.js is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, and macOS. Node.js is a back-end JavaScript runtime environment. Node.js runs on the V8 JavaScript Engine and executes JavaScript code o ...
to Windows, upstreaming the code under Apache License 2.0.
The first version of
Python Tools for Visual Studio
Python Tools for Visual Studio (PTVS) is a free and open-source plug-in for versions of Visual Studio up to VS 2015 providing support for programming in Python. Since VS 2017, it is integrated in VS and called Python Support in Visual Studio. It ...
(PTVS) was released in March 2011. After acquiring
Skype
Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
in 2011, Microsoft continued maintaining the Skype Linux client.
In July 2011, Microsoft was the fifth largest contributor to the
Linux 3.0 kernel at 4% of the total changes. The company became a partner with LinuxTag for their 2011 event and also sponsored LinuxTag 2012.
In 2012, Microsoft began hosting Linux
virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardw ...
s in the
Azure cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
service and
CodePlex
CodePlex was a forge website by Microsoft. While it was active, it allowed shared development of open-source software.
Its features included wiki pages, source control based on Mercurial, TFVC, Subversion or Git, discussion forums, issue tracki ...
introduced
git
Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data in ...
support.
The company also ported
Apache Hadoop to Windows, upstreaming the code under MIT License.
In March 2012, a completely rewritten version of
ChronoZoom
ChronoZoom is a free open source project that visualizes time on the broadest possible scale from the Big Bang to the present day. Conceived by Walter Alvarez and Roland Saekow and developed by the department of Earth and Planetary Science at t ...
was made available as open source via the
Outercurve Foundation
The Outercurve Foundation was an independent 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation founded by Microsoft. Its goal was to "enable the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities." They ran several software ...
. Also,
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is an open-source, server-side web-application framework designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It was developed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic web sites, applications and services. The name s ...
,
ASP.NET MVC
ASP.NET MVC is a web application framework developed by Microsoft that implements the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern. It is no longer in active development. It is open-source software, apart from the ASP.NET Web Forms component, which i ...
,
ASP.NET Razor
Razor is an ASP.NET programming syntax used to create dynamic web pages with the C# or VB.NET programming languages. Razor was in development in June 2010 and was released for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 in January 2011. Razor is a simple-syn ...
,
ASP.NET Web API
ASP.NET MVC is a web application framework developed by Microsoft that implements the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern. It is no longer in active development. It is open-source software, apart from the ASP.NET Web Forms component, which is ...
,
Reactive extensions, and
IL2JS (an
IL to JavaScript compiler) were released under Apache License 2.0.
The
TypeScript
TypeScript is a free and open source programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are ...
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
was released under Apache License 2.0 in 2012. It was the first Microsoft project hosted on GitHub.
In June 2012, Microsoft contributed
Open Management Infrastructure
The Open Management Infrastructure stack (OMI, formerly known as NanoWBEM) is a free and open-source Common Information Model (CIM) management server sponsored by The Open Group and made available under the Apache License 2.0.
Overview
OMI was c ...
to
The Open Group
The Open Group is a global consortium that seeks to "enable the achievement of business objectives" by developing "open, vendor-neutral technology standards and certifications." It has over 840 member organizations and provides a number of servi ...
with the goal "to remove all obstacles that stand in the way of implementing standards-based management so that every device in the world can be managed in a clear, consistent, coherent way and to nurture
ndspur a rich ecosystem of standards-based management products."
In 2013, Microsoft relicensed the
xUnit.net unit testing
In computer programming, unit testing is a software testing method by which individual units of source code—sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures&md ...
tool for the .NET Framework under Apache License 2.0 and transferred it to the
Outercurve Foundation
The Outercurve Foundation was an independent 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation founded by Microsoft. Its goal was to "enable the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities." They ran several software ...
.
Also in 2013, Microsoft added
Git
Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data in ...
support to
Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including web site, websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platfor ...
and
Team Foundation Server
Azure DevOps Server (formerly Team Foundation Server (TFS) and Visual Studio Team System (VSTS)) is a Microsoft product that provides version control (either with Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) or Git), reporting, requirements managemen ...
using
libgit2, the most widely deployed version of Git. The company is dedicating engineering hours to help further develop libgit2 and working with GitHub and other community programmers who devote time to the software.
![Microsoft_Linux](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Microsoft_Linux.jpg)
In 2014,
Satya Nadella
Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, ...
was named the new CEO of Microsoft. Microsoft began to adopt open source into its core business. In contrast to Ballmer's stance, Nadella presented a slide that read, "Microsoft loves Linux". At the time of the acquisition of GitHub, Nadella said of Microsoft, "We are all in on open source." As the industry trended towards
cloud
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...
,
embedded, and
mobile computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage, which allows for the transmission of data, voice, and video. Mobile computing involves mobile communication, mobile hardware ...
, Microsoft turned to open source to stay apace in these open source dominated fields. Microsoft's adoption of open source included several surprising turns.
![Miguel de Icaza at PDC (2986319846)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Miguel_de_Icaza_at_PDC_%282986319846%29.jpg)
In 2014, the company opened the source of its
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It was the predominant implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) until bein ...
to promote its software ecosystem and stimulate cross-platform development. Microsoft also started contributing to the
OpenJDK
OpenJDK (Open Java Development Kit) is a free and open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). It is the result of an effort Sun Microsystems began in 2006. The implementation is licensed under the GPL-2.0-only w ...
the same year.
The ''Wireless Display Adapter'', released in 2014, was Microsoft's first hardware device to use
embedded Linux
Operating systems based on the Linux kernel are used in embedded systems such as consumer electronics (eg. set-top box
A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information applianc ...
.
In the beginning of 2015, Microsoft open sourced the
Z3 Theorem Prover
Z3, also known as the Z3 Theorem Prover, is a cross-platform satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver by Microsoft.
Overview
Z3 was developed in the ''Research in Software Engineering'' (RiSE) group at Microsoft Research and is targeted at sol ...
, a cross-platform
satisfiability modulo theories
In computer science and mathematical logic, satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) is the problem of determining whether a mathematical formula is satisfiable. It generalizes the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) to more complex formulas involvi ...
(SMT) solver.
Also in 2015, Microsoft co-founded the
Node.js Foundation and joined the
R Foundation. After completing the acquisition of
Revolution Analytics
Revolution Analytics (formerly REvolution Computing) is a statistical software company focused on developing open source and "open-core" versions of the free and open source software R for enterprise, academic and analytics customers. Revolution ...
in 2015,
Microsoft integrated the open source
R programming language
R is a programming language for statistical computing and graphics supported by the R Core Team and the R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Created by statisticians Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman, R is used among data miners, bioinforma ...
into
SQL Server 2016 The history of Microsoft SQL Server begins with the first Microsoft SQL Server database product – SQL Server v1.0, a 16-bit relational database for the OS/2 operating system, released in 1989.
Versions
Detailed history Genesis
On June 12, 19 ...
,
SQL Server 2017 The history of Microsoft SQL Server begins with the first Microsoft SQL Server database product – SQL Server v1.0, a 16-bit relational database for the OS/2 operating system, released in 1989.
Versions
Detailed history Genesis
On June 12, 19 ...
,
SQL Server 2019 The history of Microsoft SQL Server begins with the first Microsoft SQL Server database product – SQL Server v1.0, a 16-bit relational database for the OS/2 operating system, released in 1989.
Versions
Detailed history Genesis
On June 12, 198 ...
,
Power BI
Power BI is an interactive data visualization software product developed by Microsoft with a primary focus on business intelligence. It is part of the Microsoft Power Platform.
Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors t ...
,
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...
,
Azure Cortana Intelligence
Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...
,
Microsoft ML Server and
Visual Studio 2017
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including web site, websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platfor ...
.
The same year, Microsoft also open sourced
Matter Center, Microsoft's legal practice management software and also
Chakra
Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...
, the
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a proprietary, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Google's Chromium open-source project: Android ...
JavaScript engine
A JavaScript engine is a software component that executes JavaScript code. The first JavaScript engines were mere interpreters, but all relevant modern engines use just-in-time compilation for improved performance.
JavaScript engines are typica ...
at the time.
Also in 2015, Microsoft released
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...
with native support for the open-source
AllJoyn
AllJoyn is an open source software framework that allows devices to communicate with other devices around them. A simple example would be a motion sensor letting a light bulb know no one is in the room it is lighting, so it can shut itself off.
...
framework, which means that any Windows 10 device can control any AllJoyn-aware
Internet of Things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
(IoT) device in the network. Microsoft has been developing AllJoyn support and contributing code upstream since 2014.
Microsoft opened the keynote speech at
All Things Open in 2015 by stating that:
In August 2015, Microsoft released
WinObjC
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windo ...
, also known as Windows Bridge for iOS, an open-source
middleware
Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue".
Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement co ...
toolkit that allows
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
apps developed in
Objective-C
Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXTS ...
to be ported to Windows 10. On November 18, 2015,
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft with the Electron Framework, for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code complet ...
was released under the proprietary Microsoft License and a subset of its source code was posted to
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, cont ...
under the
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...
.
![Number of open source contributors by company](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Number_of_open_source_contributors_by_company.png)
In January 2016, Microsoft became ''Gold Sponsor'' of SCALE 14x – the fourteenth annual
Southern California Linux Expo The Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) is an annual Linux, open source and free software conference held in Los Angeles, California, since 2002. Despite having Linux in its name, SCALE covers all open source operating systems and software. It i ...
, a major convention.
When Microsoft acquired
Xamarin
Xamarin is a Microsoft-owned San Francisco-based software company founded in May 2011 by the engineers that created Mono, Xamarin.Android (formerly Mono for Android) and Xamarin.iOS (formerly MonoTouch), which are cross-platform implementation ...
and
LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
in 2016, it relicensed the
Mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese b ...
framework under MIT License and continued maintaining the
Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...
stream-processing software platform as open source.
Also in 2016, Microsoft introduced the
Windows Subsystem for Linux
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
, which lets Linux applications run on the Windows operating system. The company invested in Linux server technology and Linux development to promote cross-platform compatibility and collaboration with open source companies and communities, culminating with Microsoft's platinum sponsorship of the
Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit technology consortium founded in 2000 as a merger between Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group to standardize Linux, support its growth, and promote its commercial adoption. Addi ...
and seat on its Board of Directors.
Microsoft released
SQL Server and the now open source
PowerShell
PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management program from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell (computing), shell and the associated scripting language. Initially a Windows component only, known as Windows PowerShell, it ...
for Linux.
Also, Microsoft began porting
Sysinternals
Windows Sysinternals is a website that offers technical resources and utilities to manage, diagnose, troubleshoot, and monitor a Microsoft Windows environment. Originally, the Sysinternals website (formerly known as ntinternals) was created in 19 ...
tools, including
ProcDump
ProcDump is a command-line application used for monitoring an application for CPU spikes and creating crash dumps during a spike. The crash dumps can then be used by an administrator or software developer to determine the cause of the spike. ProcD ...
and
ProcMon, to
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
.
R Tools for Visual Studio
R Tools for Visual Studio (RTVS) is a plug-in for the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE), used to provide support for programming in the language R. It supports IntelliSense, debugging, plotting, remote execution, ...
were released under
Apache License 2.0 in March 2016.
In March 2016, Ballmer changed his stance on Linux, saying that he supports his successor Satya Nadella's open source commitments. He maintained that his comments in 2001 were right at the time but that times have changed.
Commentators have noted the adoption of open source and the change of strategy at Microsoft:
At
EclipseCon
The Eclipse Foundation AISBL is an independent, Europe-based not-for-profit corporation that acts as a steward of the Eclipse open source software development community, with legal jurisdiction in the European Union. It is an organization suppo ...
in March 2016, Microsoft announced that the company is joining the
Eclipse Foundation
The Eclipse Foundation AISBL is an independent, Europe-based not-for-profit corporation that acts as a steward of the Eclipse open source software development community, with legal jurisdiction in the European Union. It is an organization suppo ...
as a ''Solutions Member''.
The
BitFunnel
BitFunnel is the search engine indexing algorithm and a set of components used in the Bing search engine, which were made open source in 2016. BitFunnel uses bit-sliced signatures instead of an inverted index in an attempt to reduce operations ...
search engine indexing Search engine indexing is the collecting, parsing, and storing of data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval. Index design incorporates interdisciplinary concepts from linguistics, cognitive psychology, mathematics, informatics, and ...
algorithm and various components of the
Microsoft Bing
Microsoft Bing (commonly known as Bing) is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. The service has its origins in Microsoft's previous search engines: MSN Search, Windows Live Search and later Live Search. Bing provides a variety ...
search engine were made open source by Microsoft in 2016.
vcpkg, a cross-platform open source
package manager
A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.
A package manager deals wi ...
, was released in September 2016.
Microsoft joined the
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation, with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
The organization wa ...
, the
Cloud Native Computing Foundation
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) is a Linux Foundation project that was founded in 2015 to help advance container technology and align the tech industry around its evolution.
It was announced alongside Kubernetes 1.0, an open sour ...
, and the
MariaDB Foundation
MariaDB is a community-developed, commercially supported fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. Development is led by some of the o ...
in 2017.
The Open Source Initiative, formerly a target of Microsoft, used the occasion of Microsoft's sponsorship as a milestone for open source software's widespread acceptance.
The
Debian
Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of D ...
-based
SONiC network operating system
A network operating system (NOS) is a specialized operating system for a network device such as a router, switch or firewall.
Historically operating systems with networking capabilities were described as network operating systems, because they al ...
was open sourced by Microsoft in 2017.
Also the same year, the Windows development was moved to
Git
Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data in ...
and Microsoft open sourced the
Git Virtual File System (GVFS) developed for that purpose. Other contributions to Git include a number of performance improvements useful when working with large repositories. Microsoft opened the
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps ...
to open source applications and gave the keynote speech at the
Open Source Summit
Open Source Summit (formerly LinuxCon) is a name for a series of annual conventions organized each year since 2009 by the Linux Foundation. The first LinuxCon took place in North America. Linux Foundation started organizing similar events in Eur ...
North America 2017 in Los Angeles.
In 2018, the Microsoft CTO of Data spoke with ZDNet about the growing importance of open source stating that:
Microsoft became ''Platinum Sponsor'' and delivered the keynote of the 2018
Southern California Linux Expo The Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) is an annual Linux, open source and free software conference held in Los Angeles, California, since 2002. Despite having Linux in its name, SCALE covers all open source operating systems and software. It i ...
– the largest community-run open-source and free software conference in North America.
Microsoft developed Linux-based operating systems for use with its
Azure cloud services. Azure Cloud Switch supports the Azure infrastructure and is based on open source and proprietary technology, and Azure Sphere powers
Internet of things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
devices. As part of its announcement, Microsoft acknowledged Linux's role in small devices where the full Windows operating system would be unnecessary.
![Lc3 2018 (263682137)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Lc3_2018_%28263682137%29.jpeg/1200px-Lc3_2018_%28263682137%29.jpeg)
Also in 2018, Microsoft acquired
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, cont ...
, the largest host for open source project infrastructure. Microsoft is among the site's most active contributors and the site hosts the source code for Microsoft's
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft with the Electron Framework, for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code complet ...
and .NET
runtime system
In computer programming, a runtime system or runtime environment is a sub-system that exists both in the computer where a program is created, as well as in the computers where the program is intended to be run. The name comes from the compile t ...
. The company, though, has received some criticism for only providing limited returns to the Linux community, since the
GPL license
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general u ...
lets Microsoft modify Linux source code for internal use without sharing those changes.
In 2018, Microsoft included
OpenSSH
OpenSSH (also known as OpenBSD Secure Shell) is a suite of secure networking utilities based on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which provides a secure channel over an unsecured network in a client–server architecture.
Network Working Gro ...
,
tar
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...
, and
curl
cURL (pronounced like "curl", UK: , US: ) is a computer software project providing a library (libcurl) and command-line tool (curl) for transferring data using various network protocols. The name stands for "Client URL".
History
cURL was fi ...
commands in Windows. Also, Microsoft released
Windows Calculator
Windows Calculator is a software calculator developed by Microsoft and included in Windows. In its Windows 10 incarnation it has four modes: standard, scientific, programmer, and a graphing mode. The standard mode includes a number pad and butto ...
as open source under
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...
on GitHub.
Since 2018, Microsoft has been a sponsor of the
AdoptOpenJDK project. It is a drop-in replacement for
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
's
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
/
JDK
The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a distribution of Java Technology by Oracle Corporation. It implements the Java Language Specification (JLS) and the Java Virtual Machine Specification (JVMS) and provides the Standard Edition (SE) of the Java ...
.
In April 2018, Microsoft released the Windows 3.x/Windows NT
File Manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
source code licensed under the
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...
. In August 2018, Microsoft added support for the open source
Python
Python may refer to:
Snakes
* Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia
** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia
* Python (mythology), a mythical serpent
Computing
* Python (pro ...
programming language to
Power BI
Power BI is an interactive data visualization software product developed by Microsoft with a primary focus on business intelligence. It is part of the Microsoft Power Platform.
Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors t ...
. In October 2018, Microsoft joined the
Open Invention Network
Open Invention Network (OIN) is a company that acquires patents and licenses them royalty-free to its community members who, in turn, agree not to assert their own patents against Linux and Linux-related systems and applications.
History
The co ...
and cross-licensed 60,000 patents with the open source community.
In 2019, Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 transitioned from an emulated Linux kernel to a full Linux kernel within a
virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardw ...
, improving processor performance manifold. In-keeping with the GPL open source license, Microsoft will submit its kernel improvements for accommodation into the master, public release.
Also in 2019, Microsoft released
Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is a multi-tabbed terminal emulator that Microsoft has developed for Windows 10 and later as a replacement for Windows Console. It can run any command-line app in a separate tab. It is preconfigured to run Command Prompt, Pow ...
,
PowerToys, and the
Microsoft C++ Standard Library as open source
and transitioned its
Edge browser
Microsoft Edge is a Proprietary Software, proprietary, cross-platform software, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft. It was first released in 2015 as part of Windows 10 and Xbox One and later ported to other platforms as a fork of Go ...
to use the open source
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal.
Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...
as the basis. The
Windows Console
Windows Console is the infrastructure for console applications in Microsoft Windows. An instance of a Windows Console has a screen buffer and an input buffer. It allows console apps to run inside a window or in hardware text mode (so as to oc ...
infrastructure was open-sourced under the
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...
alongside Windows Terminal.
After publishing
exFAT
exFAT (Extensible File Allocation Table) is a file system introduced by Microsoft in 2006 and optimized for flash memory such as USB flash drives and SD cards. exFAT was proprietary until 28 August 2019, when Microsoft published its specificati ...
as an
open specification, Microsoft contributed the patents to the
Open Invention Network
Open Invention Network (OIN) is a company that acquires patents and licenses them royalty-free to its community members who, in turn, agree not to assert their own patents against Linux and Linux-related systems and applications.
History
The co ...
(OIN), and started upstreaming the
device driver
In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and ot ...
to the
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...
.
At
Build 2019, Microsoft announced that it is open-sourcing its
Quantum Development Kit, including its Q# compilers and simulators.
In December 2019, Microsoft released
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. Teams primarily competes with the similar service Slack, offering workspace chat and videoconferencin ...
for Linux. This marked the first time Microsoft released an
Office app for the Linux operating system. The app is available in native
packages
Package may refer to:
Containers or Enclosures
* Packaging and labeling, enclosing or protecting products
* Mail, items larger than a letter
* Chip package or chip carrier
* Electronic packaging, in electrical engineering
* Automotive package, ...
in
.deb
deb is the format, as well as extension of the software package format for the Debian Linux distribution and its derivatives.
Design
Debian packages are standard Unix ar archives that include two tar archives. One archive holds the cont ...
and
.rpm
RPM Package Manager (RPM) (originally Red Hat Package Manager, now a recursive acronym) is a free and open-source package management system. The name RPM refers to the file format and the package manager program itself. RPM was intended primaril ...
formats. Also in December 2019, after
JS Foundation
The OpenJS Foundation is an organization that was founded in 2019 from a merger of JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation. OpenJS Promotes the JavaScript and web ecosystem by hosting projects and funds activities that benefit the ecosystem. The OpenJ ...
and
Node.js Foundation merged to form
OpenJS Foundation
The OpenJS Foundation is an organization that was founded in 2019 from a merger of JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation. OpenJS Promotes the JavaScript and web ecosystem by hosting projects and funds activities that benefit the ecosystem. The Open ...
, Microsoft contributed the popular cross-platform desktop application development tool
Electron
The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family,
and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...
to OpenJS Foundation.
2020s
Project Verona, a memory-safe
research programming language, was open sourced in January 2020. Microsoft released
DeepSpeed
DeepSpeed is an open source deep learning optimization library for PyTorch. The library is designed to reduce computing power and memory use and to train large distributed models with better parallelism on existing computer hardware. DeepSpeed i ...
, an open source
deep learning optimization library for
PyTorch
PyTorch is a machine learning framework based on the Torch library, used for applications such as computer vision and natural language processing, originally developed by Meta AI and now part of the Linux Foundation umbrella. It is free and open ...
, in February 2020.
In 2020, Microsoft open sourced the
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
extension for
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications—which ma ...
,
MsQuic (a
Windows NT kernel
The architecture of Windows NT, a line of operating systems produced and sold by Microsoft, is a layered design that consists of two main components, user mode and kernel mode. It is a preemptive, reentrant multitasking operating system, whic ...
library for the
QUIC
QUIC (pronounced "quick") is a general-purpose transport layer network protocol initially designed by Jim Roskind at Google, implemented, and deployed in 2012, announced publicly in 2013 as experimentation broadened, and described at an IETF meet ...
general-purpose
transport layer
In computer networking, the transport layer is a conceptual division of methods in the layered architecture of protocols in the network stack in the Internet protocol suite and the OSI model. The protocols of this layer provide end-to-end ...
network protocol
A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchroniza ...
),
Project Petridish, a neural architecture search algorithm for deep learning, and the
Fluid Framework for building distributed, real-time collaborative web applications. Microsoft also released the Linux-based
Azure Sphere operating system.
In March 2020, Microsoft acquired
npm, the open source Node
package manager
A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.
A package manager deals wi ...
. It is the world’s largest
software registry with more than 1.3 million packages that have 75 billion downloads a month. Also in March 2020,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
together with researchers and leaders from the
Allen Institute for AI
The Allen Institute for AI (abbreviated AI2) is a research institute founded by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The institute seeks to achieve scientific breakthroughs by constructing AI systems with reasoning, learning, and reading capabi ...
, the
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is an organization established and owned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan with an investment of 99 percent of the couple's wealth from their Facebook shares over their lifet ...
, the
Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technhology, and the
National Library of Medicine
The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library.
Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...
released
CORD-19, a public dataset of academic articles about
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and research related to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The dataset is created through the use of
text mining
Text mining, also referred to as ''text data mining'', similar to text analytics, is the process of deriving high-quality information from text. It involves "the discovery by computer of new, previously unknown information, by automatically extract ...
of the current research literature.
After exploring different alternative options and talking with various well-known commercial and open source package manager teams including
Chocolatey
Chocolatey is a machine-level, command-line package manager and installer for software on Microsoft Windows. It uses the NuGet packaging infrastructure and Windows PowerShell to simplify the process of downloading and installing software.
In A ...
, Scoop,
Ninite and others such as AppGet,
Npackd and the
PowerShell
PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management program from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell (computing), shell and the associated scripting language. Initially a Windows component only, known as Windows PowerShell, it ...
based
OneGet package manager-manager, Microsoft decided to develop and release the open source
Windows Package Manager in 2020.
Microsoft was one of the silver sponsors for the
X.Org Developer’s Conference 2020 (XDC2020). Microsoft had multiple developers presenting on the opening day.
Microsoft completed the first phase of porting the
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
OpenJDK
OpenJDK (Open Java Development Kit) is a free and open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). It is the result of an effort Sun Microsystems began in 2006. The implementation is licensed under the GPL-2.0-only w ...
for
Windows 10 on ARM devices in June 2020.
In August 2020, Microsoft became founding member of the
Open Source Security Foundation
The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) is a cross-industry forum for a collaborative effort to improve open-source software security.
The list of founding governing board members includes GitHub, Google, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, NC ...
(OpenSSF), a cross-industry forum for a collaborative effort to improve open source
software security
Application security (short AppSec) includes all tasks that introduce a secure software development life cycle to development teams. Its final goal is to improve security practices and, through that, to find, fix and preferably prevent security i ...
.
In September 2020, Microsoft released the
Surface Duo, an
Android-based smartphone with a Linux kernel. The same month, Microsoft released
OneFuzz
OneFuzz is a cross-platform free and open source fuzz testing framework by Microsoft. The software enables continuous developer-driven fuzz testing to identify weaknesses in computer software prior to release.
Overview
OneFuzz is a self-hosted ...
, a
self-hosted fuzzing-as-a-service platform that automates the detection of
software bug
A software bug is an error, flaw or fault in the design, development, or operation of computer software that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways. The process of finding and correcting bugs i ...
s. It supports Windows and Linux.
Microsoft is a major contributor to the
Chromium project
Chromium is a free and open-source web browser project, mainly developed and maintained by Google. This codebase provides the vast majority of code for the Google Chrome browser, which is proprietary software and has some additional feature ...
with the highest percentage of all non-Google contributors coming from Microsoft (35.2%). The company has contributed 29.4% of all non-Google commits to the source code in 2020.
CBL-Mariner
CBL-Mariner (in which CBL stands for Common Base Linux) is a free and open-source Linux distribution that Microsoft has developed. It is the base container OS for Microsoft Azure services and the graphical component of WSL 2.
Overview
CBL-Mar ...
, a
cloud infrastructure
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
based on
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
and developed by the ''Linux Systems Group'' at Microsoft for its edge network services and as part of its
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...
cloud infrastructure was open sourced in 2020.
In February 2021, Microsoft made the source code for its
Extensible Storage Engine
Extensible Storage Engine (ESE), also known as JET Blue, is an ISAM (indexed sequential access method) data storage technology from Microsoft. ESE is the core of Microsoft Exchange Server, Active Directory, and Windows Search. It's also used by ...
(ESE) available on GitHub under MIT License. Also in February 2021, Microsoft, together with four other founding companies (
AWS,
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, and
Mozilla
Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, wi ...
) formed the
Rust Foundation as an independent non-profit organization to steward the open source
Rust
Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH ...
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
and ecosystem. In March 2021, Microsoft became founding member of the new
Eclipse Adoptium Working Group whose goal is to promote free, open source
Java runtimes. Microsoft released a preview of the
Microsoft Build of OpenJDK in April 2021. It is available for x64 server and desktop editions of Windows, as well as on
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
and
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
. The company provides long-term support for this distribution of the OpenJDK. In April 2021, Microsoft also released a Windows 10 test build that includes the ability to run Linux
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
(GUI) apps using
Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. In the following month, Microsoft launched an open source project to make the
Berkeley Packet Filter
The Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) is a technology used in certain computer operating systems for programs that need to, among other things, analyze network traffic. It provides a raw interface to data link layers, permitting raw link-layer packets ...
work on Windows.
At the
Windows 11
Windows 11 is the latest major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released in October 2021. It is a free upgrade to its predecessor, Windows 10 (2015), and is available for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 ...
announcement event in June 2021, Microsoft showcased the new
Windows Subsystem for Android
Windows 11 is the latest major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released in October 2021. It is a free upgrade to its predecessor, Windows 10 (2015), and is available for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 ...
(WSA) that will enable support for the
Android Open Source Project
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of ...
(AOSP) and will allow users to run
Android app
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of de ...
s on their Windows desktop.
In August 2021, Microsoft announced that it is expanding its partnership to become a ''Strategic Member'' at the Eclipse Foundation.
Microsoft released the source code of
3D Movie Maker under the
MIT License
The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...
in May 2022, following a request by the
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
user ''Foone'' a month earlier. Also in May, Microsoft joined the XDP community and released a new open-source
Express Data Path
XDP (eXpress Data Path) is an eBPF-based high-performance data path used to send and receive network packets at high rates by bypassing most of the operating system networking stack. It is merged in the Linux kernel since version 4.8. This imple ...
interface for Windows.
In August 2022, Microsoft open sourced more than 1,500 of its 3D
emoji
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
to let creators remix and customize them. The library is available on
Figma and GitHub.
Support of open source organizations
Microsoft is either founding member, joining member, contributing member, and/or sponsor of a number of open source related organizations and initiatives. Examples include:
Selected products
*
.NET –
Managed code
Managed code is computer program code that requires and will execute only under the management of a Common Language Infrastructure (CLI); Virtual Execution System (VES); virtual machine, e.g. .NET, CoreFX, or .NET Framework; Common Language Runt ...
software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...
for Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems
*
.NET Bio –
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...
and
genomics
Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...
library created to enable simple loading, saving and analysis of biological data
*
.NET Compiler Platform (Roslyn) –
Compiler
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...
s and
code analysis
In computer science, static program analysis (or static analysis) is the analysis of computer programs performed without executing them, in contrast with dynamic program analysis, which is performed on programs during their execution.
The term ...
APIs for
C# and
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic, originally called Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language, implemented on .NET, Mono, and the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the successor to its original Visua ...
programming languages
*
.NET Gadgeteer
Microsoft .NET Gadgeteer is an open-source rapid-prototyping standard for building small electronic devices using the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio/Visual C# Express.
The Gadgeteer platform
The Gadgeteer platform cen ...
– Rapid-prototyping standard for building small electronic devices
*
.NET MAUI – A cross-platform
UI toolkit
A widget toolkit, widget library, GUI toolkit, or UX library is a library or a collection of libraries containing a set of graphical control elements (called ''widgets'') used to construct the graphical user interface (GUI) of programs.
Most widge ...
*
.NET Micro Framework
The .NET Micro Framework (NETMF) is a .NET Framework platform for resource-constrained devices with at least 512 kB of flash and 256 kB of random-access memory (RAM). It includes a small version of the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR ...
–
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It was the predominant implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) until bein ...
platform for resource-constrained devices
![Microsoft 3D Movie Maker 640x480](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Microsoft_3D_Movie_Maker_640x480.jpg)
*
3D Movie Maker – A children's
computer program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program ...
developed by
Microsoft Home
Microsoft Home was a line of software applications and personal hardware products published by Microsoft. Microsoft Home software titles first appeared in the middle of 1993. These applications were designed to bring multimedia to Microsoft Window ...
's
Microsoft Kids subsidiary for making
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s using
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
*
AirSim
AirSim (Aerial Informatics and Robotics Simulation) is an open-source, cross platform simulator for drones, ground vehicles such as cars and various other objects, built on Epic Games’ proprietary Unreal Engine 4 as a platform for AI research ...
– Simulator for drones, cars and other objects, built as a platform for
AI research
*
''Allegiance'' –
Multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
online game
An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PC game, PCs, Console game, consoles and ...
providing a mix of
real-time strategy
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...
and player piloted
space combat
Space warfare is hypothetical combat in which one or more belligerents are situated in outer space. The scope of space warfare therefore includes ''ground-to-space warfare'', such as attacking satellites from the Earth; ''space-to-space warfare ...
gameplay
*
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is an open-source, server-side web-application framework designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It was developed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic web sites, applications and services. The name s ...
*
ASP.NET AJAX
ASP.NET AJAX, formerly called Atlas, is a set of extensions to ASP.NET developed by Microsoft for implementing Ajax functionality. It is released under the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL).
Clients supporting Ajax
ASP.NET AJAX runs on the follow ...
*
ASP.NET Core
*
ASP.NET MVC
ASP.NET MVC is a web application framework developed by Microsoft that implements the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern. It is no longer in active development. It is open-source software, apart from the ASP.NET Web Forms component, which i ...
*
ASP.NET Razor
Razor is an ASP.NET programming syntax used to create dynamic web pages with the C# or VB.NET programming languages. Razor was in development in June 2010 and was released for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 in January 2011. Razor is a simple-syn ...
*
ASP.NET Web Forms
ASP.NET Web Forms is a web application framework and one of several programming models supported by the Microsoft ASP.NET technology. Web Forms applications can be written in any programming language which supports the Common Language Runtime, su ...
![Atom screenshot v1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Atom_screenshot_v1.41.0.png)
*
Atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, and ...
–
Text
Text may refer to:
Written word
* Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including:
**Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred
**Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...
and
source code editor
A source-code editor is a text editor program designed specifically for editing source code of computer programs. It may be a standalone application or it may be built into an integrated development environment (IDE) or web browser. Source-code ed ...
for
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...
, and
Microsoft Windows
*
Babylon.js
Babylon.js is a real time 3D engine using a JavaScript library for displaying 3D graphics in a web browser via HTML5. The source code is available on GitHub and distributed under the Apache License 2.0.
History and progress
It was initially r ...
– A
real time 3D engine using a
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
library for displaying
3D graphics in a web browser via
HTML5
HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
*
BitFunnel
BitFunnel is the search engine indexing algorithm and a set of components used in the Bing search engine, which were made open source in 2016. BitFunnel uses bit-sliced signatures instead of an inverted index in an attempt to reduce operations ...
– A signature-based
search engine
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
*
Blazor
Blazor is a free and open-source web framework that enables developers to create web apps using C# and HTML. It is being developed by Microsoft.
Overview
Five different editions of Blazor apps have been announced.
Blazor Server: These apps ar ...
–
Web framework
A web framework (WF) or web application framework (WAF) is a software framework that is designed to support the development of web applications including web services, web resources, and web APIs. Web frameworks provide a standard way to build and ...
that enables developers to create
web apps
A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection.
History
In earlier computing models like client-serve ...
using
C# and
HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
*
Bosque –
Functional programming
In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm where programs are constructed by Function application, applying and Function composition (computer science), composing Function (computer science), functions. It is a declar ...
language
*
C++/WinRT
C++/WinRT is a C++ library for Microsoft's Windows Runtime platform, designed to provide access to modern Windows APIs. C++/WinRT is provided as a standard C++17 header file library, unlike C++/CX, which is an extension to C++ and requires a recen ...
–
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
library for Microsoft's
Windows Runtime
Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a platform-agnostic component and application architecture first introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in 2012. It is implemented in C++ and officially supports development in C++ (via C++/WinRT, C++/CX or ...
platform, designed to provide access to modern
Windows API
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations th ...
s
*
C# – General-purpose,
multi-paradigm programming language
Programming paradigms are a way to classify programming languages based on their features. Languages can be classified into multiple paradigms.
Some paradigms are concerned mainly with implications for the execution model of the language, suc ...
encompassing
strong typing,
lexically scoped
In computer programming, the scope of a name binding (an association of a name to an entity, such as a variable) is the part of a program where the name binding is valid; that is, where the name can be used to refer to the entity. In other parts ...
,
imperative,
declarative,
functional
Functional may refer to:
* Movements in architecture:
** Functionalism (architecture)
** Form follows function
* Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules
* Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis:
** Functional sy ...
,
generic
Generic or generics may refer to:
In business
* Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark
* Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...
,
object-oriented
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pro ...
(
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
-based), and
component-oriented programming disciplines
*
CBL-Mariner
CBL-Mariner (in which CBL stands for Common Base Linux) is a free and open-source Linux distribution that Microsoft has developed. It is the base container OS for Microsoft Azure services and the graphical component of WSL 2.
Overview
CBL-Mar ...
–
Cloud infrastructure
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
based on Linux
*
ChakraCore
Chakra is a free and open-source JavaScript engine developed by Microsoft for its Microsoft Edge Legacy web browser. It is a fork of the same-named JScript engine used in Internet Explorer. Like the EdgeHTML browser engine, the declared intent ...
–
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
engine
![ChronoZoom Timeline Project](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/ChronoZoom_Timeline_Project.jpg)
*
ChronoZoom
ChronoZoom is a free open source project that visualizes time on the broadest possible scale from the Big Bang to the present day. Conceived by Walter Alvarez and Roland Saekow and developed by the department of Earth and Planetary Science at t ...
– Project that visualizes
time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
on the broadest possible scale from the
Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
to the
present
The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perception, perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is ...
day
*
CLR Profiler – Memory
profiler for the
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a proprietary software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It was the predominant implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) until bein ...
*
Conference XP –
Video conferencing
Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...
platform
*
Dafny –
Imperative compiled language that targets
C# and supports
formal specification
In computer science, formal specifications are mathematically based techniques whose purpose are to help with the implementation of systems and software. They are used to describe a system, to analyze its behavior, and to aid in its design by verif ...
through
preconditions,
postconditions In computer programming, a postcondition is a condition or predicate that must always be true just after the execution of some section of code or after an operation in a formal specification. Postconditions are sometimes tested using assertions wit ...
,
loop invariant
In computer science, a loop invariant is a property of a program loop that is true before (and after) each iteration. It is a logical assertion, sometimes checked within the code by an assertion call. Knowing its invariant(s) is essential in und ...
s and
loop variant In computer science, a loop variant is a mathematical function defined on the state space of a computer program whose value is monotonically decreased with respect to a (strict) well-founded relation by the iteration of a while loop under some inva ...
s
*
Dapr – Event-driven, portable
runtime system
In computer programming, a runtime system or runtime environment is a sub-system that exists both in the computer where a program is created, as well as in the computers where the program is intended to be run. The name comes from the compile t ...
designed to support
cloud native and
serverless computing
Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider allocates machine resources on demand, taking care of the servers on behalf of their customers. "Serverless" is a misnomer in the sense that servers are still ...
*
DeepSpeed
DeepSpeed is an open source deep learning optimization library for PyTorch. The library is designed to reduce computing power and memory use and to train large distributed models with better parallelism on existing computer hardware. DeepSpeed i ...
–
Deep learning optimization library for
PyTorch
PyTorch is a machine learning framework based on the Torch library, used for applications such as computer vision and natural language processing, originally developed by Meta AI and now part of the Linux Foundation umbrella. It is free and open ...
*
Detours – C++ library for intercepting, monitoring and instrumenting binary functions on Microsoft Windows
![DiskSpd v2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/DiskSpd_v2.0.21a_1115x624.png)
*
DiskSpd –
Command-line
A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...
tool for storage
benchmarking
Benchmarking is the practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost.
Benchmarking is used to measure performan ...
that generates a variety of requests against
computer file
A computer file is a computer resource for recording data in a computer storage device, primarily identified by its file name. Just as words can be written to paper, so can data be written to a computer file. Files can be shared with and transfe ...
s,
partitions
Partition may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive
* Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job
Software
* Partition (database), the division of a ...
or
storage devices
*
Dynamic Language Runtime
The Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) from Microsoft runs on top of the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and provides computer language services for dynamic languages. These services include:
* A dynamic type system, to be shared by all languages using ...
– Runtime that runs on top of the
CLR CLR may refer to:
* Calcium Lime Rust, a household cleaning-product
* California Law Review, a publication by the UC Berkeley School of Law
* Tube_bending, Centerline Radius, a term in the tubing industry used to describe the radius of a bend
* Cen ...
and provides
computer language
A computer language is a formal language used to communicate with a computer. Types of computer languages include:
* Construction language – all forms of communication by which a human can specify an executable problem solution to a compu ...
services for
dynamic language
In computer science, a dynamic programming language is a class of high-level programming languages, which at runtime execute many common programming behaviours that static programming languages perform during compilation. These behaviors cou ...
s
*
eBPF on Windows – Register-based virtual machine designed to run a custom 64-bit RISC-like architecture via just-in-time compilation inside the kernel
*
Extensible Storage Engine
Extensible Storage Engine (ESE), also known as JET Blue, is an ISAM (indexed sequential access method) data storage technology from Microsoft. ESE is the core of Microsoft Exchange Server, Active Directory, and Windows Search. It's also used by ...
– An
ISAM
ISAM (an acronym for indexed sequential access method) is a method for creating, maintaining, and manipulating computer files of data so that records can be retrieved sequentially or randomly by one or more keys. Indexes of key fields are mainta ...
database engine
A database engine (or storage engine) is the underlying software component that a database management system (DBMS) uses to create, read, update and delete (CRUD) data from a database. Most database management systems include their own application ...
that provides
transacted data update and retrieval
*
F* –
Functional programming language
In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm where programs are constructed by applying and composing functions. It is a declarative programming paradigm in which function definitions are trees of expressions that m ...
inspired by
ML and aimed at
program verification
In the context of hardware and software systems, formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of intended algorithms underlying a system with respect to a certain formal specification or property, using formal metho ...
*
F# – General purpose,
strongly typed,
multi-paradigm
Programming paradigms are a way to classify programming languages based on their features. Languages can be classified into multiple paradigms.
Some paradigms are concerned mainly with implications for the execution model of the language, suc ...
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
that encompasses
functional
Functional may refer to:
* Movements in architecture:
** Functionalism (architecture)
** Form follows function
* Functional group, combination of atoms within molecules
* Medical conditions without currently visible organic basis:
** Functional sy ...
,
imperative, and
object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...
methods
*
File Manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
–
File manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
for Microsoft Windows
*
Fluid Framework, a platform for real-time collaboration across applications
FourQlib–
Reference implementation
In the software development process, a reference implementation (or, less frequently, sample implementation or model implementation) is a program that implements all requirements from a corresponding specification. The reference implementation o ...
of the
FourQ elliptic curve
In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If ...
*
GW-BASIC
GW-BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language developed by Microsoft from IBM BASICA. Functionally identical to BASICA, its BASIC interpreter is a fully self-contained executable and does not need the Cassette BASIC ROM found in the or ...
– Dialect of the
BASIC
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
*
Microsoft C++ Standard Library – Implementation of the
C++ Standard Library
The C standard library or libc is the standard library for the C programming language, as specified in the ISO C standard. ISO/IEC (2018). '' ISO/IEC 9899:2018(E): Programming Languages - C §7'' Starting from the original ANSI C standard, it was ...
(also known as the STL)
![Monodevelop5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Monodevelop5.4.png)
*
MonoDevelop
MonoDevelop (also known as Xamarin Studio) is an open-source integrated development environment for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its primary focus is development of projects that use Mono and .NET Framework. MonoDevelop integrates features similar t ...
–
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source code editor, build automation tools a ...
for Linux, macOS, and Windows
*
MSBuild
Microsoft Build Engine, or MSBuild, is a set of free and open-source build tools for managed code under the Common Language Infrastructure as well as native C and C++ code. It was first released in 2003 and was a part of .NET Framework. MSBuil ...
–
Build tool set for
managed code
Managed code is computer program code that requires and will execute only under the management of a Common Language Infrastructure (CLI); Virtual Execution System (VES); virtual machine, e.g. .NET, CoreFX, or .NET Framework; Common Language Runt ...
as well as native
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
code
*
MsQuic – Implementation of the
IETF
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...
QUIC
QUIC (pronounced "quick") is a general-purpose transport layer network protocol initially designed by Jim Roskind at Google, implemented, and deployed in 2012, announced publicly in 2013 as experimentation broadened, and described at an IETF meet ...
protocol
*
Neural Network Intelligence – An
AutoML
Automated machine learning (AutoML) is the process of automating the tasks of applying machine learning to real-world problems. AutoML potentially includes every stage from beginning with a raw dataset to building a machine learning model ready ...
toolkit
*
npm –
Package manager
A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.
A package manager deals wi ...
for the
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
programming language
*
OneFuzz
OneFuzz is a cross-platform free and open source fuzz testing framework by Microsoft. The software enables continuous developer-driven fuzz testing to identify weaknesses in computer software prior to release.
Overview
OneFuzz is a self-hosted ...
– Cross-platform
fuzz testing framework
*
Open Live Writer
Open Live Writer (also known as OLW) is a free and open-source desktop blogging application released by .NET Foundation. It is a fork of Windows Live Writer 2012 by Microsoft. Open Live Writer features WYSIWYG authoring, photo-publishing and map ...
– Desktop
blogging
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
application
*
Open Management Infrastructure
The Open Management Infrastructure stack (OMI, formerly known as NanoWBEM) is a free and open-source Common Information Model (CIM) management server sponsored by The Open Group and made available under the Apache License 2.0.
Overview
OMI was c ...
–
CIM management server
*
Open XML SDK – set of
managed code
Managed code is computer program code that requires and will execute only under the management of a Common Language Infrastructure (CLI); Virtual Execution System (VES); virtual machine, e.g. .NET, CoreFX, or .NET Framework; Common Language Runt ...
libraries to create and manipulate
Office Open XML files programmatically
*
Orleans – Cross-platform
software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software, providing generic functionality, can be selectively changed by additional user-written code, thus providing application-specific software. It provides a standard ...
for building scalable and robust distributed applications based on the .NET Framework
*
P – Programming language for asynchronous
event-driven programming
In computer programming, event-driven programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events such as user actions (mouse clicks, key presses), sensor outputs, or message passing from other programs or thr ...
and the
IoT
![PowerShell for Linux 6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/PowerShell_for_Linux_6.0_Alpha_9_on_Ubuntu.png)
*
Power Fx –
Low-code
A low-code development platform (LCDP) provides a development environment used to create application software through a graphical user interface. A low-coded platform may produce entirely operational applications, or require additional coding for s ...
,
general-purpose programming language for expressing logic across the
Microsoft Power Platform
Microsoft Power Platform is a line of business intelligence, app development, and app connectivity software applications. Microsoft developed the Power Fx low-code programming language for expressing logic across the Power Platform. It also p ...
*
PowerShell
PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management program from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell (computing), shell and the associated scripting language. Initially a Windows component only, known as Windows PowerShell, it ...
– Command-line
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
and
scripting language
A scripting language or script language is a programming language that is used to manipulate, customize, and automate the facilities of an existing system. Scripting languages are usually interpreted at runtime rather than compiled.
A scripting ...
*
Process Monitor
Process Monitor is a tool from Windows Sysinternals, part of the Microsoft TechNet website. The tool monitors and displays in real-time all file system activity on a Microsoft Windows or Unix-like operating system. It combines two older tools, '' ...
– Tool that monitors and displays in real-time all file system activity
*
ProcDump
ProcDump is a command-line application used for monitoring an application for CPU spikes and creating crash dumps during a spike. The crash dumps can then be used by an administrator or software developer to determine the cause of the spike. ProcD ...
– Command-line application for creating
crash dumps during a
CPU spike
*
Project Mu –
UEFI
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples of ...
core used in
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen-based personal computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft, running the Microsoft Windows operating system, apart from the Surface Duo, which runs on Andro ...
and
Hyper-V
Microsoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian, and briefly known before its release as Windows Server Virtualization, is a native hypervisor; it can create virtual machines on x86-64 systems running Windows. Starting with Windows 8, Hyper-V superseded W ...
products
*
Project Verona – Experimental
memory-safe research programming language
*
PowerToys for Windows 10 –
System utilities for
power user
A power user is a user of computers, software and other electronic devices, who uses advanced features of computer hardware, operating systems, programs, or websites which are not used by the average user. A power user might not have extensive tec ...
s
*
ReactiveX
ReactiveX (also known as Reactive Extensions) is a software library originally created by Microsoft that allows imperative programming languages to operate on sequences of data regardless of whether the data is synchronous or asynchronous. It pr ...
– A set of tools allowing
imperative programming
In computer science, imperative programming is a programming paradigm of software that uses statements that change a program's state. In much the same way that the imperative mood in natural languages expresses commands, an imperative program c ...
languages to operate on sequences of data regardless of whether the data is
synchronous
Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...
or
asynchronous implementating
reactive programming
In computing, reactive programming is a declarative programming paradigm concerned with data streams and the propagation of change. With this paradigm, it's possible to express static (e.g., arrays) or dynamic (e.g., event emitters) data streams ...
*
RecursiveExtractor – An
archive file
In computing, an archive file is a computer file that is composed of one or more files along with metadata. Archive files are used to collect multiple data files together into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compre ...
extraction library written in C#
*
Sandcastle
Sand art is the practice of modelling sand into an artistic form, such as sand brushing, sand sculpting, sand painting, or creating sand bottles. A sandcastle is a type of sand sculpture resembling a miniature building, often a castle. The dr ...
–
Documentation generator
A documentation generator is a programming tool that generates software documentation intended for programmers ( API documentation) or end users (end-user guide), or both, from a set of source code files, and in some cases, binary files. Some gen ...
*
StyleCop –
Static code analysis
In computer science, static program analysis (or static analysis) is the analysis of computer programs performed without executing them, in contrast with dynamic program analysis, which is performed on programs during their execution.
The term i ...
tool that checks C# code for conformance to recommended
coding styles and a subset of the .NET Framework design guidelines
![Windows Terminal v1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Windows_Terminal_v1.0_1138x624.png)
*
Windows Terminal
Windows Terminal is a multi-tabbed terminal emulator that Microsoft has developed for Windows 10 and later as a replacement for Windows Console. It can run any command-line app in a separate tab. It is preconfigured to run Command Prompt, Pow ...
–
Terminal emulator
A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote termin ...
*
TypeScript
TypeScript is a free and open source programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are ...
– Programming language similar to
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
, among the most popular on GitHub
*
U-Prove
U-Prove is a free and open-source technology and accompanying Software development kit, SDK for user-centric identity management. The underlying cryptographic protocols were designed by Dr. Stefan Brands and further developed by Credentica and, sub ...
– Cross-platform technology and accompanying
SDK for user-centric
identity management
*
vcpkg – Cross-platform
package manager
A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.
A package manager deals wi ...
used to simplify the acquisition and installation of third-party
libraries
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
*
VFS for Git –
Virtual file system
A virtual file system (VFS) or virtual filesystem switch is an abstract layer on top of a more concrete file system. The purpose of a VFS is to allow client applications to access different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way. A VFS ...
extension to the
Git
Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data in ...
version control system
*
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic, originally called Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language, implemented on .NET, Mono, and the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the successor to its original Visua ...
–
Multi-paradigm
Programming paradigms are a way to classify programming languages based on their features. Languages can be classified into multiple paradigms.
Some paradigms are concerned mainly with implications for the execution model of the language, suc ...
,
object-oriented
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pro ...
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
*
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code, also commonly referred to as VS Code, is a source-code editor made by Microsoft with the Electron Framework, for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code complet ...
–
Source code editor
A source-code editor is a text editor program designed specifically for editing source code of computer programs. It may be a standalone application or it may be built into an integrated development environment (IDE) or web browser. Source-code ed ...
and
debugger
A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program used to test and debug other programs (the "target" program). The main use of a debugger is to run the target program under controlled conditions that permit the programmer to track its executi ...
for Windows, Linux and macOS, and GitHub's top open source project
*
VoTT
VoTT (Visual Object Tagging Tool) is a free and open source electron app for image annotation and labeling developed by Microsoft. The software is written in the TypeScript programming language and used for building end to end object detection ...
(Visual Object Tagging Tool) – Electron (software framework), Electron app for image annotation and labeling
![Screen-vowpal-wabbit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Screen-vowpal-wabbit.png)
* Vowpal Wabbit – Online machine learning, online interactive machine learning system library and program
* WikiBhasha – Multi-lingual content creation application for the Wikipedia online encyclopedia
*
Windows Calculator
Windows Calculator is a software calculator developed by Microsoft and included in Windows. In its Windows 10 incarnation it has four modes: standard, scientific, programmer, and a graphing mode. The standard mode includes a number pad and butto ...
– Software calculator
* Windows Communication Foundation – Run-time system, runtime and a set of Application Programming Interface, APIs for building connected, Service-oriented architecture, service-oriented applications
*
Windows Console
Windows Console is the infrastructure for console applications in Microsoft Windows. An instance of a Windows Console has a screen buffer and an input buffer. It allows console apps to run inside a window or in hardware text mode (so as to oc ...
–
Terminal emulator
A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote termin ...
* Windows Driver Frameworks – Tools and libraries that aid in the creation of device drivers for
Microsoft Windows
* Windows Forms – Graphical user interface (GUI) Library (computing), class library
![Windows Package Manager v0](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Windows_Package_Manager_v0.1.41331_Preview_1115x624.png)
*
Windows Package Manager –
Package manager
A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner.
A package manager deals wi ...
for Windows 10
*
Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem (similar to WinForms) originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initia ...
– Graphical subsystem (similar to WinForms) for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications
*
Windows Template Library – Object-oriented programming, Object-oriented
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
template Library (computing), library for Win32 development
* Windows UI Library – Set of UI controls and features for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
* WinJS –
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
Library (computing), library for cross-platform app development
*
WinObjC
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windo ...
– Middleware toolkit that allows
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
apps developed in
Objective-C
Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXTS ...
to be ported to Windows 10
* WiX (Windows Installer XML Toolset) – Toolset for building Windows Installer packages from XML
* WorldWide Telescope – Astronomy software
![XML Notepad 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/XML_Notepad_2007.png)
* XDP for Windows – Interface used to accelerate networking by bypassing most of the OS networking stack
* XML Notepad – XML editor
* XSP (software), XSP – Standalone web server written in
C# that hosts
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is an open-source, server-side web-application framework designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It was developed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic web sites, applications and services. The name s ...
for Unix-like operating systems
*
xUnit.net – Unit testing tool for the .NET Framework
*
Z3 Theorem Prover
Z3, also known as the Z3 Theorem Prover, is a cross-platform satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver by Microsoft.
Overview
Z3 was developed in the ''Research in Software Engineering'' (RiSE) group at Microsoft Research and is targeted at sol ...
– Cross-platform
satisfiability modulo theories
In computer science and mathematical logic, satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) is the problem of determining whether a mathematical formula is satisfiable. It generalizes the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) to more complex formulas involvi ...
(SMT) solver
See also
* Free software movement
* History of free and open-source software
* Timeline of free and open-source software
* Comparison of open-source and closed-source software
* Business models for open-source software
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Open source releases from Microsoft
{{Microsoft FOSS
History of Microsoft, Open source
History of free and open-source software
Microsoft free software,