In 2001, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer infamously described Linux as a cancer devouring every piece of intellectual property it touches. Today, his company is one of the 20 largest contributors to the Linux kernel. It also has strategic alliances with a range of open-source vendors including Suse and Red Hat, and invests millions of dollars in open source initiatives every year.

So what has changed in the past decade? According to Gianugo Rabellino, senior director of Open Source Communities at Microsoft, a combination of customer demand and changes in the tech landscape prompted Redmond to rethink its approach to open source software and the community that drives it.