Guido van Rossum, Python Creator, Joins Microsoft

Guido van Rossum, the original author of the Python programming language, has announced his return to active development and his new position within Microsoft’s Developer Division.

Van Rossum’s previous employment was with Dropbox, where he concluded his service last October following a six-year and six-month tenure. It appears his decision to retire was not permanent. He states that at Microsoft, his focus will be on “improving the Python experience, certainly not limited to Windows platforms.”

According to a Microsoft representative, the company has no further specifics to release at this time, but has verified van Rossum’s arrival. “We are pleased to welcome him to the Developer Division. Microsoft is dedicated to supporting and expanding alongside the Python community, and Guido’s addition demonstrates this dedication,” the representative explained.

The programmer, originally from the Netherlands, initiated work on the project that would evolve into Python in 1989. He continued his active involvement with the language while at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology during the mid-1990s, and subsequently at several other organizations, including his role as director of PythonLabs at BeOpen and Zope, and at Elemental Security. Prior to his time at Dropbox, he was employed by Google from 2005 to 2012, where he created the internal code review application Mondrian and contributed to the development of App Engine.

Currently, Python ranks as one of the most widely used programming languages and is the predominant choice for artificial intelligence researchers.

A few years prior, van Rossum’s acceptance of a role at Microsoft would have been unexpected, considering the company’s historical stance towards open source software. This situation has demonstrably shifted, and Microsoft is now a leading corporate contributor to open-source projects – further solidified by its ownership of GitHub. The precise nature of van Rossum’s responsibilities at Microsoft remains undefined, as he notes “the possibilities are numerous” and that “a significant amount of open-source work is conducted here.”