Like Google and Yahoo, Microsoft is now suddenly a platinum sponsor of that open source touchstone, the Apache Software Foundation, and has pledged its $100,000 check.

The move was announced Friday at the Open Source Convention in a speech by Microsoft senior director of platform strategy Sam Ramji, who described it as an endorsement of the “Apache Way.”

Maybe someone ought to explain to Microsoft that Neville Chamberlain didn’t come out on top and his reputation didn’t survive either.

CNet suggests that Microsoft might be interested in Hadoop, the Apache-run open source version of Google’s MapReduce algorithm instrumental in processing huge data sets. Yahoo is a Hadoop user and is putting it under the new Yahoo-Intel-HP clouds.

Ramji indicated Microsoft wanted more PHP deployment on Windows, since that’s where most PHP projects are developed.

Anyway, given this uncharacteristic turn of events, Microsoft has submitted a – Eeek!! – LGPL-licensed patch for ADOdb, widgetry PHP uses to access databases so now PHP can use SQL Server via a native driver, and it promised to expand its patent-free Open Specification Promise by chucking in another hundred or so protocols that advance interoperability.