Microsoft has contributed another $100,000 to the Apache Software Foundation, following on from its surprise move last year to begin funding the open-source organisation.
Last year's donation made Microsoft one of the Apache Software Foundation's (ASF) platinum sponsors, alongside Google and Yahoo, and the company said it would continue its sponsorship for another "couple of years". The ASF is a not-for-profit organisation formed to support a number of projects, including the widely used Apache HTTP server.
"We're happy to share another milestone in our work with open-source communities: renewing our commitment to the Apache Software Foundation," Microsoft said in a statement. "Microsoft is recommitting $100,000 (£60,000) over the next couple of years to support the mission and work of the Apache Software Foundation."
Microsoft has made some moves to accommodate itself to the open-source world over the past few years, including releasing its own open-source licences and putting some technology under the Open Specification Promise, which allows open-source programmers to use the technology.
The company has also begun working with Zend on Windows support of PHP, an open-source project that lets servers create web pages on-the-fly. In September, Microsoft announced it would support a Zend project to create an open-source application programming interface that would make it easier for organisations to switch cloud providers.
In a blog post on Microsoft's Port 25 website, ASF president Justin Erenkrantz said Microsoft has increased its participation in Apache software projects — including HBase, Stonehenge, QPid and POI — since it began sponsorship last year.
"This really continues the significant sea change from within the organisation — Microsoft now isn't afraid of having its employees contribute to Apache projects on Microsoft's time," Erenkrantz said in the post.
"Microsoft's involvement in these specific communities range from having its employees being core contributors driving the project, to having folks contributing patches or ideas on our mailing lists, to even commissioning a third party to contribute to our project as a work-for-hire," he stated.
Microsoft made its announcement on Monday at the ApacheCon conference in Oakland, California. The ASF is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary.
