Microsoft’s open-source era still comes with an asterisk

Microsoft’s open-source era still comes with an asterisk Yadullah Abidi / MakeUseOf By  Oluwademilade Afolabi Published May 30, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Oluwademilade is a tech enthusiast with over five years of writing experience. He joined the MUO team in 2022 and covers various topics, including consumer tech, iOS, Android, artificial intelligence, hardware, software, and cybersecurity. In addition to writing at MUO, his work has appeared on HowtoGeek , Cryptoknowmics , TechNerdiness , and SlashGear . Oluwademilade attended the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, earning a medical degree from the College of Medicine. Excelling in public service, Oluwademilade was honored with the title of Global Action Ambassador by a student organization affiliated with the United Nations. He received this designation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in recognition of his efforts to make a positive global impact in 2020 In his free time, Oluwademilade enjoys testing new AI apps and features, troubleshooting tech problems for family and friends, learning new coding languages, and traveling to new places whenever possible. Sign in to your MakeUseOf account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Microsoft's relationship with open source has one of the strangest redemption arcs in tech. This is the same company whose former CEO, Steve Ballmer, once described Linux as "a cancer," a line so cartoonishly hostile it still follows Microsoft around like an embarrassing yearbook photo. Two decades later, Microsoft talks about Linux with heart emojis, builds tools developers actually love, owns GitHub, maintains its own Linux distribution, and has open-sourced parts of Windows Subsystem for Linux to the point where one of my editors has stopped picking between Windows and Linux and started r