Microsoft goes open source for blogging software

By Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 09 December 2008 10:33

Open Source

'Open source' isn't usually the first phrase that comes to mind when you hear 'Microsoft' (unless you're one of those who believes open source is always the answer to Microsoft), but the company has released an early version of an open source content management system called Oxite. Excited?

Seeking to give some oxygen to its open source credibility and the world of blogging, Microsoft is excitedly promoting Oxite as a "great blogging platform, or a starting point for your own web site project with CMS needs."

It was created as an example use of ASP.NET MVC (Model View Controller), with the Oxite FAQ noting that "we think it is a useful sample to get a site of your own going too."

Oxite has been designed to be "a great blogging platform, or a starting point for your own web site project with CMS needs."

Oxite looks like Microsoft taking more than a little bite in the mighty world of blogging, as it seems to set fright to its competitors, all of whom will likely try to fight Microsoft day and night for the right to the "best open sourcing blogging software" crown.

Its blogging-related functions include pingbacks, trackbacks, commenting with optional moderation, gravatar support, RSS feeds, a web-based administration panel, support for the MetaWebLog API, and the ability to manage multiple blogs on one site and multiple sites in one database.

Although Oxite is set up to use SQL Server, another database could be substituted by those with the desire to do so.

Is Oxite ready for prime time? See page 2.