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Ex-Microsoft execs launch open source biz
Jul. 14, 2006

If you were filthy rich from your time at Microsoft and you want to do something new, would you: A) Found a museum about Jimi Hendrix; B) Plan a trip to the International Space Station; or C) launch an open-source start-up company.

The answer is: D) All of the above.

Paul Allen, a Microsoft co-founder, established the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle with its focus on the guitar god. Charles Simonyi, a billionaire software developer who can take much of the credit for Word and Excel, is working towards a 2007 trip to the space station. And, perhaps the most unlikely activity of them all for an ex-Micosoftie, Scott Collison, former director of platform strategy at Microsoft, is the CEO of Ohloh, an open-source startup out of Bellevue Wash.

Ohloh, which is both bankrolled and staffed by former Microsoft executives, will be using open-source software to provide companies with a service to help them choose the right open-source software for their needs.

Ohloh was scheduled to go into a beta launch on July 19th, but it already appears to be in operation. The service is meant to help developers identify open-source projects that are advancing rapidly and show the most promise for a programming group's particular interest.

It's an interesting niche. The former Microsoft staffers think they may just be on to something that will be both profitable for them and helpful for companies that want to get the most from open-source programs without needing to dig through the whole wide range of free software for themselves.


-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols



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