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Microsoft unveiled an online collaborative software development and source code sharing portal at the Open Source Business Conference in London on June 17. CodePlex, which aims to offer capabilities similar to those provided by SourceForge, already hosts more than 30 collaborative development efforts, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft says CodePlex has logged more than 100,000 visits since it entered its beta phase with 12 initial projects in May of this year.

CodePlex’s functionality is derived from Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. The site provides source control, issue tracking, discussion forums, and RSS feeds in and out of each project.

“Visual Studio Team Foundation Server enables developers to collaboratively develop, share, discuss, and consume source code, and build software,” Microsoft said.

CodePlex currently lists the following “most popular” projects:
Ajax.NET Professional Starter Kit

Windows Forms Controls

“Atlas” Control Toolkit

IronPython

MSBuild Extras — Toolkit for .NET 1.1 “MSBee”
Additionally, the following are currently listed as the “most active” CodePlex-hosted projects:
Community Advanced Starter Kit — The Community Advanced Starter Kit, CASKDotNet project version 1.0 is a collaborative development project utilizing advanced features of ASP.NET.
TFS Source Code Version Tree Browser — This project aspires to create a Version Tree Browser for Team Foundation Server allowing for the visual presentation of branches, merges and version information.
SharePoint Forums Web Part — The SharePoint Forums Web Part is a free, open source, single web part that provides a more feature rich discussion board for SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services based sites.
VFPX — A Visual FoxPro Community effort to create open source add-ons for Visual FoxPro 9.0.
“Ascend.NET” Windows Forms Controls — “Ascend.NET” Windows forms controls are a collection of .NET custom controls implemented in C# targeting Visual Studio 2005.

A directory of 48 projects that currently appear to be hosted on CodePlex is available here.

Shared source

“Shared source,” Microsoft’s response to the growing movement toward making software source code available to customers and developers, leans more toward the so-called “business friendly” BSD-style licensing model than the “copy-left” style license of the GPL, under which Linux and many of its associated components are licensed.

Since its introduction some five years ago, Microsoft’s shared source has evolved into a diverse set of licenses that are tailored to a wide range of products and developer constituencies. The company initially released source code on a read-only basis, whereby companies were not permitted to ship products based on modified code to their customers, but has since expanded the flexibility of the program to allow modified code to be redistributed within products, under certain shared licenses. For example, “Premium Licensees” of Windows CE shared source can now create customized versions of the OS to embed in their devices, enabling them to meet unique hardware or performance requirements, or differentiate their products in order to be more competitive.

“CodePlex provides a forum to bring together developers from around the world and gives them tools, source code and an advanced platform for designing and building software,” Jon Rosenberg, director of Community Source Programs at Microsoft, said in a statement. “CodePlex is just one of the ways in which Microsoft is fostering collaborative community innovation. Through the Shared Source Initiative, Microsoft has engaged with over 2 million developers on 120 different programs.”

First-ever Windows CE shared Source contest

Microsoft and WindowsForDevices.com on June 14 jointly launched the first-ever Windows CE Shared Source contest for developers. Each contest participant will submit a “cool, real-world project” that combines Windows CE along with either or both of two shared source components — the Windows CE WebCam driver and/or the Windows CE DVR engine. Judges will select four winners to receive Xbox 360 game consoles, and the grand prize winner will also be awarded a 34-inch HDTV, games, and accessories.