Microsoft chucks GNOME $10,000 from their FOSS Fund

Everyone knows that Microsoft absolutely loves Linux right? Well, that's debatable but hey they did just reach down the back of the sofa and chuck GNOME some cash.

As part of their ongoing Free and Open Source Software Fund (FOSS Fund for short), part of their Microsoft Open Source Programs Office, Microsoft engineers participate in selecting various projects they feel could benefit from a little extra help. No strings attached, no big fancy marketing of Microsoft trying to do something nefarious, just Microsoft workers voting to give out some money to free and open source projects they find interesting.

Just a few days ago it was announced that GNOME was the latest winner of $10,000. Previous winners include systemd, OpenStreetMap, QEMU and various others.

Every month they start a new selection process, which results in a new project getting the $10,000 bonus which is usually paid in 10 monthly installments of $1,000. There's only a few requirements to be considered including:

• The open source project must be used by Microsoft.
• Project is actively prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion.
• The project must have an OSI-approved open source license
• Needs to have a way to receive funds that our procurement and legal teams are happy with (GitHub Sponsors is great!)
• the project cannot be owned by a Microsoft employee

As a side-note, it's quite interesting to see that even Microsoft see the OSI as the go-to for proper open source licenses.