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Microsoft's New Hurdles
gnuadam writes "The New York Times (free reg. required) is now running a
piece about how the recently accepted
settlement between Microsoft and the DOJ will affect the ever-so-loving relationship between them and the "worldwide community of volunteer programmers" who work on Linux and associated programs. Of interest, one interviewee quipped, "My prediction is that within three years time, Microsoft will `give away' its operating system to preserve its revenue in the applications business." Would Microsoft give away Windows to sell Office? Stay tuned." Update: 11/04 19:33 GMT by T : In related news, an anonymous reader writes "In an interview with Linux and Main Free Software Foundation General Counsel Eben Moglen reacts to Friday's U.S. v. Microsoft ruling and describes how it and 'trusted computing' will figure in formulating the next version of the GPL, expected in the next few months."
I believe Microsoft will give away their operating system but will NEVER give their source code up. 3rd party companies would clean up and make their OS more efficient than Microsoft's bloated version, creating competition that Microsoft doesn't need. However, would Microsoft lose their footing in the OS department if other companies were releasing their own versions of Windows?
We have a case study of a sophisticated, commercial close source product being released to the open source community: Mozilla. Read what someone intimately involved with the project has to say here and here. (Summary: progress has been slower and quality lower than he ever expected).