Open source software makes an important contribution to innovation in companies. Microsoft supports this approach in a number of ways. As a supporter, sponsor and active part of the open source community, we promote its dissemination – and we give top priority to the security, protection and integrity of our customers’ data.
A few weeks ago a helicopter flew over the surface of Mars. It had the appropriate name Ingenuitywhat in German “Ingenuity” means. Its use was made possible by a team of open source developers working together on GitHub. Such an open approach enables such innovation by ensuring that the brightest minds and the best code come together to achieve goals together. While open source software – with publicly available code that anyone can see, modify, and share – helped us reach the stars, this approach also solves problems here on earth.
For example, open source implementations of FHIR-Data structures, servers, clients and tools in the health sector provide high-performance data management – and at the same time protect the privacy of patients. Another example is Counterfit: an open source automation tool that we recently released. Companies can use it to ensure that their artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are reliable and trustworthy. This is an increasingly important topic as AI is used more and more.
Even when introducing Counterfit, Matilde Rhode, Senior Cybersecurity Researcher at Airbus, stated: “The release of open source tools that security professionals can use to assess the security of AI systems by a company like Microsoft is both welcome and a clear indication that the industry is taking this problem seriously.”
Today, open source is a recognized model for software development and innovation in the corporate sector: More than 90 percent of companies use open source and 40 percent of CIOs see it as a central component of their respective software strategy. Over 50 percent of the virtual machines in the Microsoft Azure Cloud and 60 percent of the software in the Azure Marketplace now run on Linux.
So how do we help European companies to take advantage of open source? Through our commitment to:
- Joint development with the open source community
- Support flexibility and interoperability with a cloud-neutral approach
- Prioritizing the security, data protection and integrity of our customers’ data
Building and supporting the open source community
Open source lives from the commitment of the community. Success depends just as much on your own contributions as it does on what you can learn from the community. GitHub is now also part of Microsoft, where more than 65 million developers publish their code and most of the contributions come from Microsoft. More than 70 percent of the Fortune 500 companies already use this platform. Microsoft makes important contributions to the Linux kernel and itself Microsoft Teams now runs on Linux. With the latest version of Microsoft Windows it is even possible to use Linux software with a full graphical user interface as if it were Windows programs. And with Windows 11, the same will be possible for Android apps.
“It is our ability to work together that makes our dreams believable and ultimately achievable. We have to learn to build on the ideas of others. “
-Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
Also many of our most important proprietary software programs, like that .NET-Framework or Visual Studio Code, are open source. We promote the spread of open source solutions as a member or sponsor of organizations like the Linux Foundation, the Open Source Initiative or the Open Manufacturing Platform. Some people are surprised when I tell them that the inventor of the Python programming language, Guido van Rossum, now working at Microsoft. Our belief in a strong open source community is also the reason why we are excited about the opportunity to contribute to the GAIA-X project. We support its goal of ensuring that Europe reaps the value of the data its companies generate and the innovations they bring to market.
More flexibility and interoperability through a cloud-neutral approach
After more than a year of pandemic, we continue to see digital change accelerate. To be competitive, our customers have to be agile. Companies using Microsoft’s extensive range of open source technologies can begin innovating at the platform level immediately and take advantage of the infrastructure once it is in place. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, so flexibility and interoperability are key. Our customers therefore know that they can easily move all of their data and applications to another cloud.
For example, many companies that have built their own IT infrastructure for years want to increase the value of these investments while taking advantage of the possibilities of the cloud. We are expanding the flexible hybrid solutions for these customers. We just announced that customers could run multiple existing Azure services – including the serverless computing tool – with Kubernetes and Azure Arc on their own servers or in other clouds.
Security, data protection and compliance are priorities
Innovation is important. But people won’t use technology they don’t trust. For Azure customers who use open source, we offer the advantages of the community as well as the highest level of security and data protection. We invest over a billion dollars in security every year and have special security solutions in use for customers in multi-cloud environments.
Data protection and ensuring that all local and EU-wide regulations such as the GDPR are met are crucial for our customers. We ensure that our cloud offerings (including Azure, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365) meet or exceed EU directives.
We recently announced that our corporate and public sector customers in the EU will have the opportunity to store and process all of their data in the region. Under the name EU data limit for the Microsoft cloud, all technical work for this project should be completed by the end of next year.
Our customers’ data is theirs
Our core belief is that our customers’ data is theirs. And our business model is just as clear, because our success depends on the success of our customers. As a platform company, we are not in competition with our customers. We’re not a bank, a healthcare company, or an automaker.
A contribution by Ralph Hauptter
President Microsoft EMEA
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