Let’s get this out of the way: I’m still surprised to be writing this Geek Guide. It’s no secret that Microsoft was long perceived as the enemy of open-source software. Indeed, it’s not unusual for people in open-source forums, when faced with a question from someone using a Microsoft product, to rudely refuse to help.

But, even the most skeptical open-source fan must admit that Microsoft has changed during the last few years. It has released many developer tools and libraries as open source, and it has started to include Linux as a supported platform for some of its software. Microsoft is embracing open source in different ways—sometimes as a way to license its software and sometimes as an additional platform on which to run its commercial products.