Checking in on CodePlex

“Paul Gillin: I want to ask about this role of the corporate
sponsor. What is your thinking on how much control the corporate
sponsor has over that gallery they are underwriting? Sam Ramji: You
can’t expect an Open Source project to thrive or to have your
contributions accepted or endorsed by that community if they come
with a lot of conditions.

“Part of what we will be able to do for corporations that
sponsor galleries is to help them understand the nature of
influence rather than control and how to support projects that may,
at some points in time, compete with some of that company’s
interests – to help corporate sponsors understand that their
broader interests may be well served by that same project, even if
it doesn’t feel immediately natural at the very beginning.
That certainly is the journey that I had the privilege to see
Microsoft go through over the last few years as the company began
to understand how to work with, rather than through, Open Source
projects. Sponsorship will have to be along the lines of
encouragement than seen as a direct approach.”

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