Do you trust the Microsoft open source platform?

Aras Corp. of Lawrence, Mass. says it has delivered Aras Innovator, an open source personal information manager built on the Microsoft .Net platform.

Aras Innovator is hosted at Codeplex, the Microsoft collaborative development site. (Image from DesignNews.)

Aras insists this has many advantages, not the least of which is that it's spending its money on coders rather than lawyers.

The most spectacular advantage may be reduced competition. Microsoft-based open source is a new market, but being a Microsoft ISV is pretty cushy place to be. From here Aras looks like a bird in a gilded cage.

Are you buying it?

For me, the key here is not whether Aras sells support licenses, but whether it gets real community support, extensions to Innovator that are donated back to the community, helping Aras build its bottom line and niche. There are lots of Microsoft shops out there -- this might be a good bet.

Or it might not.