Microsoft recently tapped the Philippines for its open source initiative citing mobility applications and e-commerce as some of the potential open source areas, according to Bill Hiff, general manager for platform strategy of Microsoft Corporation. His visit in the country also marks the launch of Microsoft’s Shared Source Initiative and Customer Platform Value Campaigns.
“The growth of community developers doesn’t happen in the same epicenters (ex. Redmond for Microsoft). To make these epicenters grow, we have to be at the points of origin where a lot of development happens; not try to bring those points of origin to one spot, which is sort of swimming against the flow of a moving river,” said Hiff. “So what were doing here, and in other country, is to expand the scope so that when we work with open source projects we can do it not just in Redmond level but to encourage small, medium or even large local software companies.”
With an aim to expand Microsoft’s open source services, Hiff met with some local developers to find out what interesting projects they are doing, the direction that they are heading, and how they are connected to Microsoft. According to Hiff, most open source services cater to Windows-based customers, thus Microsoft would like to take an active participation in reaching out to the open source community.
He cited the remarkable technology of mobility applications in the country which are not all open source but cross-platforms. “There are some we’ve started working with already that are very oriented around what I would call mobility applications. Certainly, the strongest characteristic that I’ve noticed in my short stay here in the Philippines is the tremendous use of mobile phones. More than any country in the world, by many different metrics, be it number of SMS sent per day, number of mobile units, penetration of mobile devices, you guys are on the top of the list. The growth of these developers will also help the growth of Microsoft.”
This is the market Microsoft plans to take advantage of — the 70 percent service-oriented database, including the remaining 30 percent of innovative “mash ups” or the fusion of different applications and technologies. In the coming days, Microsoft plans to develop a community of developers, where they can interoperate in a heterogeneous environment and enjoy equal opportunities. This venue will also help developers address their needs and other concerns.
“What my team will be doing is creating a home, where all these types of developers can work together. The community of developers for open source is often very different from classic ISVs which are more structured. I don’t want take away what they are familiar with, instead I want to create an environment especially crafted for them,” Hiff said.
