The OpenChain Project announces Microsoft OpenChain Conformance

SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER 12 – Today, the OpenChain Project announced Microsoft, a Platinum Member, is the latest company to achieve OpenChain conformance.  This milestone is an example of how OpenChain can be an important part of building quality open source compliance programs that meet the needs of companies and that build trust in the ecosystem.

The OpenChain Project establishes trust in the open source from which software solutions are built. It accomplishes this by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. The OpenChain Specification defines inflection points in business workflows where a compliance process, policy or training should exist to minimize the potential for errors and maximize the efficiency of bringing solutions to market. The companies involved in the OpenChain community number in the hundreds. The OpenChain Specification is being prepared for submission to ISO and evolution from a growing de facto standard into a formal standard.

“Open source compliance is a top priority for Microsoft and we respect the license choices developers make”, said David Rudin, Assistant General Counsel, Microsoft. “We value our partnership with OpenChain to help build trust in the larger open source community. Through investments in open source policy, tools to identify open source software, and collaboration with the open source community in projects like OpenChain, the TODO Group, and ClearlyDefined, we are committed to working with the community to develop and share best practices for open source compliance.”

“Microsoft has been an exceptional contributor to the OpenChain Project both in terms of board engagement and in broader engagement with our work teams around the world,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. “One of the defining aspects of the OpenChain industry standard is our broad applicability to companies of all sizes and in all sectors. It has been fantastic to work with Microsoft to understand the needs of the cloud and large enterprises, especially with regards to how some approaches differ to consumer electronic, infrastructure and other markets. The conformance announcement today is a milestone that greatly supports our evolution as we head into 2020 and underlines once again the value of our continued collaboration.”

About the OpenChain Project

The OpenChain Project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements. The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

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