# Microsoft President: We Were 'On the Wrong Side of History' About Open Source

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/microsoft-president-we-were-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-about-open-source/87131>\
**Category:** News & Articles\
**Tags:** programming, technology, windows\
**Created:** [May 17, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/microsoft-president-we-were-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-about-open-source/87131 "2020-05-17T20:52:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aina](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/aina/32/167469_2.png) [@Aina](https://onehack.st/u/Aina)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/microsoft-president-we-were-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-about-open-source/87131/1 "2020-05-17T20:52:36Z")

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![image](https://onehack.st/uploads/default/original/3X/4/2/429a1265c0783117acd0bb4db8aba38c74476cd6.jpeg)

In 2001, Slashdot covered Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s description of Linux as “[a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense](https://slashdot.org/story/01/06/01/1658258/ballmer-calls-linux-a-cancer) to everything it touches.”

This week during a chat with MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Microsoft’s current president Brad Smith admitted that “Microsoft was on the wrong side of history when open-source exploded at the beginning of the century.” _"And I can say that about me personally. The good news is that, [if life is long enough, you can learn…that you need to change](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Microsoft-Pres-On-Open-Source)._

 

_“Today, Microsoft is the single largest contributor to open-source projects in the world when it comes to businesses. When we look at GitHub, we see it as the home for open-source development, and we see our responsibility as its steward to make it a secure, productive home for [developers].”_

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**Author:** ![TinTunAung](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/tintunaung/32/39827_2.png) [@TinTunAung](https://onehack.st/u/TinTunAung)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/microsoft-president-we-were-on-the-wrong-side-of-history-about-open-source/87131/2 "2020-05-17T21:31:28Z")

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This is one of pictures hung behind my pc. Whenever I see this, I honor Mr. Torvalds for his great work.

 ![Linus Torvalds](https://onehack.st/uploads/default/original/3X/5/8/58c7a89385a5afe90cc49cdd1b0da6f585a9a2f4.jpeg)