what is codeplex?

i was having a conversation with a friend today regarding codeplex. he was telling me how many people don’t know about codeplex (or even sourceforge for that matter), and some of these folks he has talked to are developers. i was quite stunned to say the least.

i guess why i was so amazed that developers do not know about codeplex is that not only is it a great place to start an open source project, but even better to find something that you might be thinking about building. i am all for reuse and before i start thinking about coding, i am checking codeplex (or sourceforge) first.

if you want to start a project on codeplex, all you have to do is follow three easy guidelines:

You must choose a license for your project (license resources: Open Source License page on Wikipedia)

It must be an ongoing project (no “abandoned” projects)

It must have source code (no non-software projects)

that’s it! bam… you have a codeplex project that allows tons of super smart people to contribute to your brilliant idea.