"We are pleased to be able to offer a customized program which both helps Microsoft and open source collaborate and provides our customers access to an even broader scope of choices on the Microsoft Platform."
- Amy Lucia, Director, Microsoft Partner Program
Economic Opportunity
Microsoft is ready to help technology businesses succeed, regardless of the partner's choice of business model. This promise is underpinned by a commitment to respecting the choices of how individual developers or entrepreneurs choose to build their company, regardless of underlying development methodologies or business model.
With over 750,000 software and service partners worldwide, Microsoft has a proven record of helping businesses increase profitability by delivering the tools, technologies, and programs that increase market reach. This includes membership benefits offered through the Microsoft Partner Program, as well as unique offerings to interested open source software partners.
As organizations adopt wikis for collaboration, customer relations, and knowledge management, the wikis require more features, but traditional ones haven't kept pace. Most wikis are based on scripting languages with limited functionality that make them difficult to integrate. MindTouch has addressed these challenges with Deki Wiki, the first cross-platform open source wiki with application logic written entirely in the Microsoft Visual C# and the Microsoft .NET Framework. Read the PDF (241 KB)
SpikeSource offers enterprise-class solutions by integrating open-source applications and middleware into a single package, supported and managed through its SpikeNet update service. To meet customer demand, SpikeSource began providing Windows-based open source solutions, which are well supported and which integrate with enterprise systems. The move has nearly doubled the SpikeSource sales pipeline. Read the PDF (237 KB)
On the day before the Open Source Business Conference, Microsoft, working with the Olliance Group, hosted fifty commercial open source companies for the first ever Microsoft Open Source ISV Forum. While the notion of Microsoft and Open Source working together may seem new, Microsoft's history of helping partners build profitable businesses is not. Read the PDF (259 KB)
In 2006, Aras adopted an open source business model—meaning that users have the freedom, without charge, to download, customize, improve, and redistribute code. That made Aras one of the first enterprise open source providers to offer its solution exclusively on Windows and the .NET Framework. Support from Microsoft included technical consulting and marketing resources such as telemarketing campaigns, search marketing, and participation in Aras's open source launch. Read the PDF (431 KB)
