Digital Journal — “You can’t go forcing something if it’s just not right.” Those lyrics from Green Day’s “When I Come Around” could have worked as background music to Microsoft’s announcement today that the software company will embrace an open-source language commonly used on rival Linux servers.
Microsoft is partnering with Zend Technologies, whose founders were integral in creating the open-source PHP language. PHP runs some of the world’s most popular blogs and the Wikipedia website.
Open source has continually posed a growing challenge to Microsoft’s Windows franchise, but today’s news forges a deal that speaks volumes about how the Redmond giant is viewing future relations with competitors.
“Zend is a clear leader in the PHP community, and we are excited to be working with it on this joint collaboration effort designed to provide developers using PHP with the best possible experience within a Microsoft environment,” said Bill Hilf, general manager of Technical Platform Strategy at Microsoft.
Microsoft’s move comes as no surprise. PHP works much faster with Linux and the open-source server Apache than with Windows servers. Hilf intends to level the playing field by teaming with Zend so PHP can be optimized for Windows, and will be made available for January 2007.
It’s almost funny to watch Microsoft come around to give a big hug to open-source software, a chief opponent to the Windows platform. It must make financial sense to the monolith: its Server & Tools division contributed 23 per cent of Microsoft’s revenue of $10.8 billion during the latest quarter.
And now that Microsoft is courting the Linux crowd, won’t the Gates haters quiet down a few decibels? Or is Microsoft just paying lip service?
