Microsoft Corp. is providing the funding for a new foundation aimed at bringing open-source and proprietary software companies together to participate side by side in open-source projects.

According to its Web site, the new CodePlex Foundation "will complement existing open source foundations and organizations, providing a forum in which best practices and shared understanding can be established by a broad group of participants, both software companies and open source communities."

CodePlex has for some time been the name of the site on which Microsoft hosts open-source projects.

The group is a nonprofit whose interim president will be Sam Ramji, who's currently senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft, in charge of the company's open-source endeavors. It's not clear if the move means Ramji is leaving his duties at Microsoft. The new foundation plans to hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon to provide more details about its formation.

More: http://computerworld.com/s/article/9137820/