Open source software blocked from Microsoft WP7 Marketplace

Andre Yoskowitz
18 Feb 2011 2:22

Jan Wildeboer, a Red Hat employee and big advocate of open source software, has posted today that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Marketplace blocks open source software from being distributed.
Says Wildeboer: "One thing is extremely obvious. Microsoft wants to keep its platform clear of Free Software. Period."
Article 5 of the Application Requirements section in the Marketplace Application Provider Agreement specifically states (via Thinq):

The Application must not include software, documentation, or other materials that, in whole or in part, are governed by or subject to an Excluded License, or that would otherwise cause the Application to be subject to the terms of an Excluded License.

In the "Excluded License" section earlier, the GNU General Public License is named, along with any "equivalents."
Furthermore, it appears that even closed-source apps will be banned if they use open source libraries, which many developers do.