Microsoft helps fuel Sourceforge growth

Sourceforge.net passed a significant milestone on Wednesday by registering its hundred-thousandth project.

The Web site, which catalogues open source applications, claimed that the release of source code by large organisations has been an important factor in its success.

"The momentum behind SourceForge.net's continued rapid growth has been fueled by the visibility of new projects posted by leading organisations such as NASA, Microsoft, Google, IBM and Salesforce.com," said the Open Source Technology Group, the company behind Sourceforge.net, in a statement.

Microsoft has contributed several projects to the site, including FlexWiki, a Web-based collaboration tool; the Windows Template Library, a series of templates designed to simplify the writing of Windows programs; and Windows Installer XML, a set of tools used to build installation packages for Windows products. These tools have attracted combined downloads of more than 21,000 in the past 60 days, according to OSTG.

Although Microsoft has given these tools to the open source community and is said to be considering releasing more code, it has been more cautious about giving access to its core business software. The company has shared-source programs that allow universities and government agencies to view the code of some of its products, including certain versions of its Windows operating system, on condition that the institutions sign an agreement not to release the code.