Microsoft embraces big data
Once a walled garden, the world’s biggest tech firm wants to liberate digital information
TWO DECADES ago Microsoft was a byword for a technological walled garden. One of its bosses called free open-source programs a “cancer”. That was then. On April 21st the world’s most valuable tech firm joined a fledgling movement to liberate the world’s data. The company plans to launch 20 data-sharing groups by 2022 and give away some of its digital information, including data it has gathered on covid-19.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Tear down this wall”
From the April 25th 2020 edition
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