Q&A with Sam Ramji, Senior Director of Platform Strategy

Datamation published a brief Q&A with Sam Ramji, senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft, today. Ramji oversees Microsoft's initiatives in Linux and all things open source, which at first glance might seem a like a strange job for someone at Microsoft. But the reality is that Linux and other open source products are out there and it's better for everyone if there's some communication between the two groups and interoperability between the software.

Q: At a recent Microsoft Worldwide Partner conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemed to be saying that Microsoft will work with open source, but will never actually produce open source software. Is that a correct reading of the company's attitude?

I’m glad you asked this, because it’s incredibly important that we accurately articulate Microsoft’s open source strategy. Microsoft believes that the next ten years of software will be a time of growth and change where both open source and Microsoft communities will grow together. We believe that in an increasingly interconnected world, more people have more opportunity; to use more technology; to do more things than ever before. We support those choices and are expanding interoperability between open source technologies and Microsoft technologies.

Back in February, Ramji wrote about how open source influenced Windows Server 2008, with features such as modular architecture and feedback-driven development.