Open source application OpenProj, a Microsoft Project replacement, has been downloaded more than 500,000 times, says Marc O'Brien, CEO of OpenProj's sponsoring company Projity.

Projity is a company that provides two alternatives to Microsoft's popular Project application. Project-On-Demand is software-as-a-service (SAAS) code that runs in any browser and is available via a monthly subscription. OpenProj is a desktop version of the application that is built on Java and is licensed with the Common Public Attribution License (CPAL).

OpenProj 1.0 was recently released by Projity, which offers a related commercial product called Project-On-Demand. OpenProj is written in Java and licensed under CPAL 1.0, and versions for Windows, Mac OS/X, and Linux can be downloaded from SourceForge.net.

An open-source competitor to Microsoft Project and discussion of the GPL3 are among the expected highlights of LinuxWorld, which kicks off today in San Francisco.

It's great to see a Microsoft Project alternative built with the open source user in mind. In a bit of haste, I downloaded and installed the app to see what it had to offer. What I found was a mixed bag of tricks and treats, no Halloween reference meant to be implied.

It's bad enough that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) with its big war chest might sue you for producing open source software. But what's really hard to take is the suggestion that you stooped to stealing Microsoft code for your project. At the Open Source Business Conference this week in San Francisco, one show organizer got his revenge.

For open source backers who love to bash Microsoft (and other proprietary software companies), this LinuxWorld was not for you.

Industry analysts are scratching their heads after Microsoft recently decided to join a project measuring how people are using open source software. The Open Source Census is run by OpenLogic, a company that aims to help organisations obtain, use and control open source software -- programs where the underlying code is open to everyone to see and to share ideas on improving it.

I’m excited today to announce that we are also releasing the ASP.NET MVC source code under the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL). MS-PL is an OSI-approved open source license. The MS-PL contains no platform restrictions and provides broad rights to modify and redistribute the source code. You can read the text of the MS-PL at: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ms-pl.html