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Microsoft has come a long way lately when it comes to open source. Apple seems to be the only major company that is still not an enthusiastic participant.

jeffnappi 7y ago
Perhaps Apple's contributions aren't as visible, but just off the top of my head here's two major open source contributions from them: Swift[1] and FoundationDB[2] [1] https://github.com/apple/swift https://github.com/apple/swift [2] https://github.com/apple/foundationdb https://github.com/apple/foundationdb
- umvi 7y ago
  Do people really use swift on Linux?
  - favorited 7y ago
    Some people write web services in Swift on Linux, though it's really just getting started.
  - jeffnappi 7y ago
    Apparently it is gaining traction. For example, the Tensorflow project is working on building a next generation library with Swift - https://github.com/tensorflow/swift https://github.com/tensorflow/swift You can read why here - https://github.com/tensorflow/swift/blob/master/docs/WhySwiftForTensorFlow.md https://github.com/tensorflow/swift/blob/master/docs/WhySwif...
    - mastazi 7y ago
      Thank you, the second link you provided was an extremely interesting read. It seems to me that Swift has reached a level of maturity where the language and the ecosystem can now exist independently of Apple’s support.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Only because Lattner is part of the Tensorflow team, and they still don't have a solid story regarding OS support, in spite of several people pointing out how much better supporting Julia would have been. Which incidentally also supports Windows out of the box.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Plus there's a page for all their OS components: https://opensource.apple.com https://opensource.apple.com. There's also WebKit and LLVM, which started at Apple and are still heavily driven by engineers at the company.
  - garmaine 7y ago
    Neither WebKit nor LLVM started at Apple.
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      WebKit was an Apple project; I'm off by a little bit on LLVM as Lattner was hired after he started the project at UIUC.
      - maaaats 7y ago
        Webkit is Apple, yes, but it was a fork of something existing (khtml)
        saagarjha 7y ago
        Right. Apple took the code from KHTML/KJS and wrapped it so it would work on macOS.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    Neither of these started at Apple.
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      WebKit was certainly started at Apple. I just checked and the paper for LLVM was actually published before Lattner joined Apple, so I guess it's not quite true that it was "started" there (though, of course, most of its development has happened there).
nimrody 7y ago
Isn't Apple a major contributor to LLVM and clang? Chris Lattner (one of the original developers of LLVM) was working for Apple until recently.
- favorited 7y ago
  People don't seem to remember that Apple wrote Clang and open-sourced it.
hiccuphippo 7y ago
I would say Amazon is the new Microsoft, having turned the old Embrace, Extend and Extinguish into Embrace, Extend and Engulf.
- pranith 7y ago
  Ah, forgot Amazon. They are a sink for OSS. Apple, it appears, is much better than I knew.
kccqzy 7y ago
Apple wrote and open sourced their C++ compiler (clang) and C++ standard library (libc++), both part of the LLVM project, years before Microsoft did. In fact it was more than a decade ago in 2007 that Apple open-sourced clang, and now widely adopted by the industry. Sure Apple's participation in open sourcing may not be "enthusiastic" with huge "️Heart Open Source" billboards but it gets real job done and has real positive impact.
- oblio 7y ago
  Now if only you could run GPL software on the largest platform Apple sells products for...
- WalterGR 7y ago
  huge "️Heart Open Source" billboards Did Microsoft do this? A quick Google search turns up nothing. Or were you using artistic license, equating announcing that they’re open-sourcing something with leasing physical billboard space?
acchow 7y ago
Others have already mentioned clang. Apple also open sourced their kernel for iOS/MacOS https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu
de_watcher 7y ago
That lib is just open source by nature, nothing to praise here.
YayamiOmate 7y ago
Appart from siblings' mentions, I think they also opensourced networking libs/protocols, bonjour and cups. Cups should be mentioned especially, since that was a basis for network printing under linux. (I hope im right on this) While Im not a fan of the corporation, its strategy and most of the policies, some dilligence is due here. They are known to release low level stuff.
- tssva 7y ago
  CUPS was not originally written or open sourced by Apple. CUPS was released in the late 2000s as open source and soon after became the default print system for most Linux distros. Apple hired the original creator and purchased the source code in 2007.

jeffnappi 7y ago

Perhaps Apple's contributions aren't as visible, but just off the top of my head here's two major open source contributions from them: Swift[1] and FoundationDB[2] [1] https://github.com/apple/swift https://github.com/apple/swift [2] https://github.com/apple/foundationdb https://github.com/apple/foundationdb

umvi 7y ago
Do people really use swift on Linux?
- favorited 7y ago
  Some people write web services in Swift on Linux, though it's really just getting started.
- jeffnappi 7y ago
  Apparently it is gaining traction. For example, the Tensorflow project is working on building a next generation library with Swift - https://github.com/tensorflow/swift https://github.com/tensorflow/swift You can read why here - https://github.com/tensorflow/swift/blob/master/docs/WhySwiftForTensorFlow.md https://github.com/tensorflow/swift/blob/master/docs/WhySwif...
  - mastazi 7y ago
    Thank you, the second link you provided was an extremely interesting read. It seems to me that Swift has reached a level of maturity where the language and the ecosystem can now exist independently of Apple’s support.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Only because Lattner is part of the Tensorflow team, and they still don't have a solid story regarding OS support, in spite of several people pointing out how much better supporting Julia would have been. Which incidentally also supports Windows out of the box.
saagarjha 7y ago
Plus there's a page for all their OS components: https://opensource.apple.com https://opensource.apple.com. There's also WebKit and LLVM, which started at Apple and are still heavily driven by engineers at the company.
- garmaine 7y ago
  Neither WebKit nor LLVM started at Apple.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    WebKit was an Apple project; I'm off by a little bit on LLVM as Lattner was hired after he started the project at UIUC.
    - maaaats 7y ago
      Webkit is Apple, yes, but it was a fork of something existing (khtml)
      - saagarjha 7y ago
        Right. Apple took the code from KHTML/KJS and wrapped it so it would work on macOS.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  Neither of these started at Apple.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    WebKit was certainly started at Apple. I just checked and the paper for LLVM was actually published before Lattner joined Apple, so I guess it's not quite true that it was "started" there (though, of course, most of its development has happened there).

nimrody 7y ago

Isn't Apple a major contributor to LLVM and clang? Chris Lattner (one of the original developers of LLVM) was working for Apple until recently.

favorited 7y ago
People don't seem to remember that Apple wrote Clang and open-sourced it.

hiccuphippo 7y ago

I would say Amazon is the new Microsoft, having turned the old Embrace, Extend and Extinguish into Embrace, Extend and Engulf.

pranith 7y ago
Ah, forgot Amazon. They are a sink for OSS. Apple, it appears, is much better than I knew.

kccqzy 7y ago

Apple wrote and open sourced their C++ compiler (clang) and C++ standard library (libc++), both part of the LLVM project, years before Microsoft did. In fact it was more than a decade ago in 2007 that Apple open-sourced clang, and now widely adopted by the industry. Sure Apple's participation in open sourcing may not be "enthusiastic" with huge "️Heart Open Source" billboards but it gets real job done and has real positive impact.

oblio 7y ago
Now if only you could run GPL software on the largest platform Apple sells products for...
WalterGR 7y ago
huge "️Heart Open Source" billboards Did Microsoft do this? A quick Google search turns up nothing. Or were you using artistic license, equating announcing that they’re open-sourcing something with leasing physical billboard space?

acchow 7y ago

Others have already mentioned clang. Apple also open sourced their kernel for iOS/MacOS https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu

de_watcher 7y ago

That lib is just open source by nature, nothing to praise here.

YayamiOmate 7y ago

Appart from siblings' mentions, I think they also opensourced networking libs/protocols, bonjour and cups. Cups should be mentioned especially, since that was a basis for network printing under linux. (I hope im right on this) While Im not a fan of the corporation, its strategy and most of the policies, some dilligence is due here. They are known to release low level stuff.

tssva 7y ago
CUPS was not originally written or open sourced by Apple. CUPS was released in the late 2000s as open source and soon after became the default print system for most Linux distros. Apple hired the original creator and purchased the source code in 2007.