Microsoft postpones ban on selling open source apps

Microsoft has now decided not to impose a ban on the sale of commercial applications in its store that are written on the basis of open source. The decision was supposed to come into force on July 16, but the company faced criticism and said that it would still finalize the relevant policy, writes TechCrunch.

In June, Microsoft updated the requirements for apps that appear in the Microsoft Store. In particular, paragraph 10.8.7 of the updated rules stated that from July 16, developers will be prohibited from taking money from users who download open source software through the store. In addition, the corporation should prohibit setting an "irrationally high price in comparison with the characteristics and functions" of applications (although it did not specify what the "irrational price"is). In early July, the planned innovations were criticized. Hayden Barnes, Senior Engineering Manager at SUSE, an open source software development company, said he was "disappointed" with the proposed policy change because it could prevent already underfunded open source software developers from building more sustainable projects. And the American human rights organization Software Freedom Conservancy said that because of the new rules, in particular, the well-known graphic editor Krita and the video editor ShotCut will be violators. In the end, Microsoft CEO Giorgio Sardo announced that the announcement of the new rules was "not received as expected" in the company. Therefore, now the corporation puts the innovations on pause to clarify the wording and make them "more transparent and understandable." Accordingly, Microsoft has now suspended the implementation of its new policy. Details

Bradley M. Kuhn, a FOSS activist who is also part of the Software Freedom Conservancy, noted that the very nature of open source software is that it is free from restrictions, without favoritism about who can and who can't monetize it.

On June 8, Microsoft announced in a blog post that it was making four changes to the company's policy. They relate to the civil rights of employees, the publicity of salaries and working for competitors.