4 ms·

Microsoft search to be powered by open source

22 points by nreece 18y ago

mcav 18y ago
Protip: Reusing open source web browsers would be a logical next move. :) </wishfulthinking>
- thorax 18y ago
  I'd prefer they just open source theirs, actually. I like having more browser choices, but it'd be nice to see them open up more..
iamcalledrob 18y ago
Well, if the technology makes sense, why not? There's no point in being awkward.
drawkbox 18y ago
At a minimum, even if it is a trick, this is good strategic thinking going on in that team. I like anything that spreads the use of distributed databases and having another BigTable implementation is great. As mentioned, it would be great if they started using Webkit or open source browser rendering engines.
KirinDave 18y ago
I am an employee of Powerset and I can say with authority that this article is not fact checked at all. It contains some egregious errors and a geyser of wishful thinking and baseless guesses. As for the culture issue they're addressing, I cannot talk about what specifically is going on with Live internals and upcoming releases, but I can say that we actually have been surprised by how willing the MS engineers have been to check out our infrastructure and assess it fairly. If you come into the office you still see most of the NL research we do is still done on macs using a lot of open source tools targeting linux, and our management is cool with that. We've had some friction maintaining our ties to open source, but only because these issues are complicated by an acquisition and getting used to new rules and procedures. In general, the vibe I get when I talk to veteran Microsofties is one of cautious optimism about non-gpl'd open source code. And even people very high up the MS chain have told us that open sourcing code can make financial sense, and if it makes sense then that's what should happen.
- jeroen 18y ago
  It contains some egregious errors and a geyser of wishful thinking and baseless guesses. Which parts? The important parts of the article (Powerset using open source, jquery inclusion in VS, MS's earlier negative stance on open source) are all well documented. Only MS's "keenness on consuming open-source software and embedding it into its proprietary products" is probably exaggerated.

22 points by nreece 18y ago

mcav 18y ago

Protip: Reusing open source web browsers would be a logical next move. :) </wishfulthinking>

thorax 18y ago
I'd prefer they just open source theirs, actually. I like having more browser choices, but it'd be nice to see them open up more..

iamcalledrob 18y ago

Well, if the technology makes sense, why not? There's no point in being awkward.

drawkbox 18y ago

At a minimum, even if it is a trick, this is good strategic thinking going on in that team. I like anything that spreads the use of distributed databases and having another BigTable implementation is great. As mentioned, it would be great if they started using Webkit or open source browser rendering engines.

KirinDave 18y ago

I am an employee of Powerset and I can say with authority that this article is not fact checked at all. It contains some egregious errors and a geyser of wishful thinking and baseless guesses. As for the culture issue they're addressing, I cannot talk about what specifically is going on with Live internals and upcoming releases, but I can say that we actually have been surprised by how willing the MS engineers have been to check out our infrastructure and assess it fairly. If you come into the office you still see most of the NL research we do is still done on macs using a lot of open source tools targeting linux, and our management is cool with that. We've had some friction maintaining our ties to open source, but only because these issues are complicated by an acquisition and getting used to new rules and procedures. In general, the vibe I get when I talk to veteran Microsofties is one of cautious optimism about non-gpl'd open source code. And even people very high up the MS chain have told us that open sourcing code can make financial sense, and if it makes sense then that's what should happen.

jeroen 18y ago
It contains some egregious errors and a geyser of wishful thinking and baseless guesses. Which parts? The important parts of the article (Powerset using open source, jquery inclusion in VS, MS's earlier negative stance on open source) are all well documented. Only MS's "keenness on consuming open-source software and embedding it into its proprietary products" is probably exaggerated.