A software code contribution agreement, new approaches to open source licensing, a project acceptance process, a first technology gallery and donated projects - these are among the early accomplishments of The CodePlex Foundation, the open source foundation publicly launched with support from Microsoft September 10, 2009.

Significant progress has been made against the Foundation's early goals, according to interim President of the Board of Directors Sam Ramji. "Our biggest accomplishment has been the development of a project acceptance process which enabled us to accept a gallery donation and also take on two projects," he said. "In addition, the Project Acceptance Guidelines document released in October set forth very strong guiding principles for the Foundation. A tremendous amount of work was done in a very short time."

Also in progress are changes to the Board of Directors and continuing evolution of the Board of Advisors, all with the intent of bolstering the Foundation's independence and value to commercial software companies, open source projects, and the open source community. "We are very nearly ready to announce a permanent board of five members; three are already in place, and final discussions are taking place with the remaining candidates, who are well-known in the open source community," Ramji said. "Expect to see the full permanent board - with significant changes to participants - announced in mid-January. We feel this is solid progress on a very difficult task."

Recruitment of permanent staff also is well underway, with interviews ongoing for Executive Director and Technical Director positions. "We are seeing top candidates," said Ramji, "People with open source backgrounds, experience in companies and non-profits, and deep ties to the technical community are eager to join us to make the promise of the Foundation reality - enabling the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities."

Still to be addressed is the creation of a Foundation Charter, a task Ramji and the interim board feel is best left to the soon-to-be-announced permanent Board of Directors and permanent staff.

"The first 100 days have been an incredible ride," said Ramji. "We have learned amazing things, received great advice from the Board of Advisors and, informally, from experts in the worlds of OSS and open standards. It's been a privilege to see people and companies inspired by the Foundation's mission," he added. "Thinking about what we can build with The CodePlex Foundation as we move ahead, I see more opportunity to evolve our mission and to continue our legal innovations, making membership in the Foundation more attractive for more corporate sponsors, and proving our value to community projects."