Microsoft invests $ 10,000 in Linux work environment Gnome

Microsoft employees have chosen Gnome as an open source project to invest in as part of the Microsoft FOSS Fund. This means that Microsoft is sponsoring Gnome once with $10,000.

Gnome has been elected to Microsoft FOSS Fund #20 open source project from May. The work environment is chosen by Microsoft employees and interns. A group of so-called Open Source Champs within Microsoft compiles a monthly list with employees of about five to twenty projects from which employees can choose. Projects must have an Open Source Initiative-approved license and a means of receiving the money.

At the election, Microsoft reports that the Gnome project is an essential part of many graphical Linux devices. “It’s also part of Ubuntu, which is the first Linux operating environment that Microsoft supported.” The Microsoft FOSS Fund was created to, according to Microsoft, “give back to the communities and projects that its employees rely on to do their jobs.”

A new winner is chosen every month. Previous projects that received funding from the Microsoft FOSS Fund included OpenStreetMap, curl, and Syn, a parser for the Rust programming language. On OMG Ubuntu reactions to the donation have been mixed. Some users are happy with the move, others point out that this is a miniscule amount of money for Microsoft that generates so much marketing attention. Users are also skeptical because of the hostile attitude Microsoft has shown towards Linux in the past.