Microsoft-seeded foundation picks Headspring Systems project

A Microsoft-seeded, open-source organizer picked a Headspring Systems project for its first non-Microsoft sponsored effort.

Seattle, Wash.-based Codeplex Foundation announced last week it was choosing the Austin-based software developer's computer application, MVC Contrib. It is the first Codeplex has accepted outside of Microsoft.

The application is meant improve dot-net software testing by allowing web developers to test their applications on top of Microsoft’s active-server pages and model-view-controller framework.

The project’s founders Eric Hexter and Jeffrey Palermo began working on the software independently in 2007, and then merged their work with Headspring when they were hired by the company. Headspring was founded in 2001.

Hexter, now Headspring’s director of open-source software initiatives, said in an interview Wednesday the most exciting part about the project’s acceptance at Codeplex is the potential for more developers, including Microsoft employees, to both use and work on the project.

“Having the foundation behind the project hopefully eliminates some of the barriers for other companies who want to use this software,” Hexter said. “Plugging it on a Web site versus having a foundation with legal authority totally changes the possibilities.”

He said the connection to Microsoft will also bode well for Austin’s tech economy, breaking new ground in open-source development, where ties have been virtually nonexistent.

“Anything we can do to draw more attention to that is really what we’re trying to do,” he said.

The CodePlex Foundation is a non-profit created as a forum for open source communities dedicated to increasing participation in open-source community projects.

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