Microsoft releases more GPL code

MICROSOFT SEEMS TO BE getting all open saucy all of a sudden, as it has released more code under the General Public License (GPL) that's often applied to (gasp!) free software.

The Vole sent out some code to help Linux virtualisation guests run under Windows Hyper-V hosts earlier this week and now it has released code for the open source online learning system Moodle.

The code Microsoft released is a Live Services Plug-in for Moodle licenced under the GPLv2.

Writing in his bog, Peter Galli, a community manager for Microsoft's Platform Strategy Group, said that the plug-in adds Microsoft's Live@edu services such as e-mail, calendar, instant messaging and search directly into the Moodle user experience and makes them available via single sign-on.

Moodle is an open sauce course management system that teachers use to build online learning websites for their classes. It is said to have about 30 million users in 207 countries.

The Volish plug-in is the first of what will be a set of software releases for the education community that Microsoft will make available for download online via its Education Labs Web site.

But while it is releasing such code, the Vole says it will continue to make deals with companies to collect royalties for patents it claims to hold on technologies used in Linux and other free and open source software

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