Microsoft prepped the ground for its European TechEd conference this week by snaffling up SourceGear's bag of Teamprise tools.

The "assets" allow developers using Eclipse or working on multiple operating systems - Mac, Linux and Unix - to build apps with Microsoft's Visual Team Foundation Server.

The deal is being pitched as Microsoft building a bridge between .Net and Java development. It'll be interesting to see how much traffic heads in each direction

No price was set on the purchase, but at least it gave Microsoft the chance to bang on about interoperability.

"The industry must take steps to make interoperability a stronger business asset for our customers,” said S. Somasegar, senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft.

He said that with the buy, "we’re taking a step forward on this journey, providing customers with a viable cross-platform development solution that will help produce business results more quickly.”

Developers will no doubt come to their own conclusion as to whether they want to join Microsoft on its journey to interoperability.

TechEd kicks off in Berlin today. The timing with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall may be entirely coincidental. Or, alternatively, someone at Redmond is a big fan of David Hasselhoff and wants to commemorate his finest hour. ®

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