In the Open Source world we rarely here mention of anything positive that Microsoft is doing, in fact it’s a sin to utter their name in most circles. However, what few people know, if any, in our community, is that Microsoft is attempting to go Open Source. You may have already heard of PHP on Windows, but they have taken it even further by offering a new web platform that allows for some unexpected software to be installed and integrated such as PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, WordPress, and Drupal.

If you’ve never heard of Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer should give it a try, its FREE!

So what’s Make Web, Not War?
Microsoft is reaching out to the Open Source community, it’s nice to see they are ready to come on board, and to demonstrate this they not only sponsored WordCamp Toronto this year they are hosting a ‘pay what you can’ 1 day event in Toronto and Vancouver to showcase some of the Open Source platforms they have been working on, and their speaker list, so far, includes some well know Open Source and Social speakers including David Crow ( http://davidcrow.ca/ ), Mano Kulasingam ( http://digitweet.com/ ).

I am also happy to announce that I will be speaking at this event. I have not decided what my presentation will focus on, but it is my goal to outreach to Microsoft’s community and discuss the benefits of integrating Open Source alternatives in their commercial projects by using tools such as WordPress. I will also discuss how to optimize your web presence with Social techniques like twitter and Facebook, how to build a community around your brand, and what it takes to organize and manage large Open Source projects and communities such as PHUG. If there is time I may even look at how to do this using Microsoft’s new web suite, which allows for Open Source integration, Expression Web.

I am very excited to take part in this one day event, and I hope the commercial world is ready to drop the digibomb!

I am especially looking forward to the FTW!

Ultimate FTW! Throwdow – Are you or do you know someone taking place in the 2009 Ultimate FTW! Throwdown? Come out to support the developer app off showdown of Student vs. Developer. The top two finalists will be presenting their apps at the competition and the audience ultimately chooses the winner who may win up to $10,000 in prizes. This is one smackdown you definitely don’t want to miss!

If you’ve got the chops, you should enter!

When and Where
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
8:30AM to 5:00PM
Ted Rogers School of Management
575 Bay Street (entrance at 55 Dundas St. West)
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C5

For more information on the event or to register go to Make Web, Not War!