Microsoft makes Chakra Core Javascript Engine Open Source

There’s been a strange love / hate relationship between Microsoft and Linux over the years. At this point in time the awkward couple is in a complete honeymoon stage, but will it last. Microsoft, seemingly trying to get back to its roots as a software company, has made some huge strides over the past year open sourcing much of it’s development platform starting with .NET. Next they added the BASH terminal to Windows in an attempt to entice some of the web developers out there to move to Windows, or back to Windows.

Now, they’ve open sourced their Chakra Javascript Engine. This is the engine that runs on the new Edge browser. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what was wrong with any of the existing Javascript engines, but I haven’t actually tried the Edge browser, nor anything made to run on it with Chakra, so I could absolutely be missing something.

I have no doubt that none of the steps Microsoft is taking are simply out of the goodness of their hearts. I know it seems cynical, but I think I’ll wait out the honeymoon, and see how the rest of the budding relationship between Microsoft and the Open Source community turns out.

Here’s an article over on NeoWin with more information about the Chakra Core Open Source Javascript Engine.