InformationWeek | Antitrust | Microsoft To Release Windows Source Code | January 25, 2006 — I’ve always been convinced that Microsoft is scared to death that people will get hold of the code and publicly ridiculue it. I can only imagine the restrictions the company will place on those who get to see this stuff.
Microsoft on Wednesday announced it will license all of its Windows Server source code as a way of coming into compliance with the European Commission’s ruling of March 2004, the Associated Press reports.
The company has made the decision voluntarily as a way of adressing all of the issues raised by the Commission’s Statement of Objections made in December 2005, according to Brad Smith, Microsoft’s senior vice president and general counsel.
Are you saying there might be a chance of a stable version of windows in the future?
Unlikely.
Or maybe SCO will find something that belongs to them! LOL
Michael: Unlikely… This isn’t going to be full-blown open-source. This will only be for a very large fee, as well as with many patent licenses.
So, no Open-Source Windows for a while anyway 😛
Unlikely, Michael… This is not going to be a full-blown Open-Source release, rather, companies will have to pay quite a lot to get the code, as well as with Patent licenses and NDA’s.
How can anyone get a handle on over a million lines of code? It has to be patchwork with all those different teams trying to integrate it. Unlike Apple, MS has to be more concerned with legacy. I think it’s a wonder XP runs as good as it does.
I think that Microsoft will comply to the european commision’s ruling by only meeting it’s minimum requirements. By the time Microsoft has finished restricting it and twisting it, it will probably not be even close to the original source code.
Ok I guess people did not get I was trying to make a joke (I guess I failed at making a joke)
Didn’t IBM license Windows already and put it into OS/2? Is it time to buy more stock in Watcom?
maybe they’ll license it to apple, for use on intel macs…
That Microsoft is sharing source code is nothing new:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/default.mspx
What *is* new is that they’re sharing an entire set of OS source. Of course, the motives are largely to promote a “cooperative” image to sidestep any pesky legal issues. The “good stuff” definitely falls under the most restrictive licensing, and is probably covered by an NDA signed in blood.
In regards to comment 6: WinXP has something like *40* million lines of code. A million LOC can certainly be hard to grok, even if commented well. But you don’t have to understand *all* the source if you’re exploring a particular area of the OS.
As I recall, the issue with the Europeans was that M$ wouldn’t allow other developers to see the Windows source code so their products could integrate. The offering by M$ is for their Server code. I’m not sure that will measure up to the EC’s ruling.
Second, the issue of licensing was that the terms NOT be onerous. The EC ruled that being a monopoly M$ abused their position by predatory and unfair license tactics. I don’t see MS being allowed to charge exorbitant license fees or any unfair terms or conditions.
Third, the EC has held off on the fines, but they were set at several million per DAY. If M$ decided not to pay and to abandon the European market, then the EC could revoke Windows Patents and allow into the public domain. This would allow backwards engineering of the code. Even if this would only be applicable in Europe, it wouldn’t take long for new public versions to reach around the world.
M$ is going to play this out until their new OS is out. Then they will release the code for now redundant XP. As for Vista, they will go through the whole same thing again until they finally lose that one too. In the mean time, they will keep making big bucks every day.
I could be wrong on this. I have been wrong before. In fact, just last week I thought I made a mistake but it turned out I was wrong.