Back in August I announced that I planned to open source the HIBP code base. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I also knew it was the right thing to do for the longevity of the project. What I didn’t know is how non-trivial it would be for all sorts of reasons you can imagine and a whole heap of others that aren’t immediately obvious. One of the key reasons is that there’s a heap of effort involved in picking something up that’s run as a one-person pet project for years and moving it into the public domain. I had no idea how to manage an open source project, establish the licencing model, coordinate where the community invests effort, take contributions, redesign the release process and all sorts of other things I’m sure I haven’t even thought of yet. This is where the .NET Foundation comes in.

After announcing the intention to go open source, my friend and executor director of the foundation Claire Novotny reached out and offered support, thus beginning a new conversation. I’ve known Claire for years previously as another Microsoft Regional Director and subsequently as a Microsoft employee and Project Manager on the .NET team. But the .NET Foundation isn’t part of Microsoft, rather it’s an independent 501(c) non-profit organisation: