Dear Mr. Gates: Save Vista, Open-Source It

> it just seems that MS software would work a whole lot better if they were really stealing that much code.

Thief! You stole the words right out of my mouth! I'm calling the cops.

>I'm calling the cops.

I'm sorry, the BSA is unavailable right now. They have recently upgraded to Vista, and, well, you can only imagine.

:-D

tracyanne, that's an image that is going to be hard to erase from my mind!

> I suspect there's a little tongue in cheek going on in that article

Read it again, and I'm not seeing that. Yeah, he laughs at MS's ability to handle programming, but he really thinks that joining Linux would be a real solution for them.

Really Dino, what wouldn't suprise me at all would be MS going the way of Apple with BSD. BSD is much closer to, or at least doesn't oppose MS goals so much. Heck, they are already openly using a lot of BSD code.

>MS going the way of Apple with BSD.

Could be. Trouble is, how would they ever manage to get the MS bits right?

Apple has skills. Microsoft?

> how would they ever manage to get the MS bits right?

I never said anything about getting it 'right', just that they'd likely go that way. After all, MS has a second skill besides marketing. It's called "screwing things up".

What gets me is that MS would actually be better releasing their code under a copyleft license. They would get real community input while keeping their enemies close at hand. A libre license would also be the only way I would use their OS. ;-)

This is really odd, why would we want Visto opened up? what are we going to benefit from it? Isn't Linux good enough?

I agree with JimF (did I say that!), SJVN is really serious about it and he is full-heartedly advising MS to open Visto and join FOSS. He is telling MS not to waste its time because they can't stop FOSS and better join it.

You see, none of the advertising web sites and journalist want to see MS to go down the drain, It is their best advertising client. If MS is gone, where are they going to get their advertising revenues from?

I'm not even sure that's true Don. MS has such an exploitative track record that it's going to be a very long time before anyone trusts them, no matter what move they make. I also question whether their Corporate head-state will even accept (or comprehend) A libre license.

Well, let me put it this way: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/48999/index.html

;-)

There are ways to destroy FOSS.

Commercial underhandedness of which MS is the most talented is not one of them.

But there are ways. Easy example: Pass a DMCA-like law outlawing FOSS. May not eliminate it, but will chill it to death.

There are other ways, more Darwinian. Some opine that Debian is dying under its own weight. Maybe.

Can you pollute a river and not pollute the sea?

I have this mental picture of 40 million tons of garbage being GPL'd at once. This would most surely destroy FOSS.

> agree with JimF (did I say that!), SJVN is really serious about it and he is full-heartedly advising MS to open Visto and join FOSS

I don't think he's that stupid and I think this article is a subtle form of tongue-in-cheek that is more ironic than funny.

Having seen what happened to Novell, having seen the relatively light community input to OpenOffice and Mozilla, how can SJVN, down deep where a pretty good brain actually lurks, believe that the free software community could be any kind of resource to Microsoft?

I suppose you could make a case for enlightened self-interest. Free software folks may not wish to help Microsoft at all, but see a huge benefit in creating better support for Windows applications. Free software being free software, they couldn't easily keep Microsoft from adding their stuff into an open Windows.

That would seem a stretch, though, as the differences between *ix and Windows (a message-passing OS) go down pretty deep.

>Pass a DMCA-like law outlawing FOSS

In theory, yes. As a practical matter, no, though one should never say never.

The politics aren't strong enough to make something like that happen -- although the Democrats are in power now, and their ties to Bill Gates and to the entertainment industry are very strong.

I think, however, that DRM is coming to our rescue. It's a pain in the butt and people are getting annoyed. I think the Hollywood crowd would have trouble getting that through a PR campaign.

Quoting:I don't think he's that stupid and I think this article is a subtle form of tongue-in-cheek that is more ironic than funny.

No, he is not stupid at all but, you must have read his articles and seen how supportive of Novell-MS's agreement he is.

May be SJVN is raising a challenge to MS since he knows pretty well that MS will never open Vista unless they are forced. MS goes to the extreme to prevent FOSS from inter-operating with Vista.

Quoting:Free software folks may not wish to help Microsoft at all, but see a huge benefit in creating better support for Windows applications.

Unless you meant better interoperability with FOSS applications, what benefits Free software folks would see in creating better support for Windows Apps.? I don't see how opening Vista would improve application interoperability which is more important to users. We already have seen to what extent MS is willing to go to avoid using an Open Standard like ODF.

We will never see OpenVista, not in our dreams.

>what benefits

I believe that more people using FOSS means more drivers, more development, more better good stuff, y'all.

Windows apps are a stumbling block that keep many people from even considering a move to Linux. Remove the block, get more people.

Quoting:>what benefits ...

I certainly agree on both but opening Vista will not help neither.

I assume you are referring to all Windows apps, MS & other vendors, but if MS does that, they will lose control. MS will never let that happen. The mere idea of MS opening anything is ludicrous and shouldn't be entertained like SJVN did.

So far, MS showed a little willingness of interoperability and only with companies who are naive enough to sign a contract like Novell did. MS has to hurt pretty bad before they even think about volunteering any cooperation.

>MS will never let that happen

I tend to agree. The only way I could imagine that -- and Vista could make it happen -- is if people see the MS OS as too doggy to deal with, and its cash cow status evaporates.

At that point, MS might be more concerned with propping up its non-OS products and release the code.

About as likely as me hitting the town with Jennifer Love Hewitt, I'm afraid.

> The mere idea of MS opening anything is ludicrous and shouldn't be entertained like SJVN did.

Well, at least clearly labled as (bad) sci-fi...

Quoting:About as likely as me hitting the town with Jennifer Love Hewitt, I'm afraid.

They say if you dream of something enough it happens. You never know.

Pardon the self-serving blogspam, but this time it is quite justified...

http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?title=what_if_micros...

Last year, even. And my version ponders what impact it would have on sales - little to none. Yet through open-sourcing Windows, even through a license more restrictive than a GPL, it solves most of the problems with Windows in the first place... and we all live together in harmony again.

Nevertheless, I'm glad even SJVN is catching on to the idea.

...up on EweTube somewhere?

Such a suggestion as the article, if taken seriously, should just about do that to our dyed-in-the-wool unbelieving capitalist. I don't think he's learned anything from so many of his minions changing shirts.