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Microsoft Shared Source -- With a Twist
chill writes "Microsoft is now willing to share all the source code to WinCE that they don't license from others. This includes the rights to alter the code and sell the altered code! Of course, they want copies of the changes, but the program is FREE." There's another story at Windowsfordevices.com.
Perhaps you added a zero to the date.
It's April 10.
Microsoft, like usual, probably made a calculation error in their proprietary calculator software, shifted the digits and thought it was April 1.
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
Maybe I'm just trolling, but how much of Windows CE is non-Microsoft? 50%? 90%? Wouldn't it be nice if it pretty much boiled down to something like this in every file:
/* Copyright 1995-2003 by Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. */
#include "ms.h"
And ms.h was just:
Heck, we might find it that most of it came largely from FreeBSD, or something.
What the hell do you think they think they're interacting with? Magic little people that do what you say at the tap of a stylus?
Trying is the first step towards failure.
1. Get Windows CE source from Microsoft -- FREE :-)
2. Write new code, contribute it back to Microsoft (containing many, many destructive bugs)
3. Microsoft distribute code, many WIndows CE machines crash
4. We offer to fix bugs, for a fee
5. PROFIT!
"It's as reliable as your desktop PC!"
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
MS releases their entire source to an OS - and you whine about it even more?
April the first?
This reminds me of the release of Windows 95. Microsoft proudly proclaimed that this release eliminated the dreaded Unrecoverable Application Error. Sure they did. They renamed it General Protection Fault (or maybe it was the other way around).
I use multiple Pocket PC and Windows CE devices and have never had a crash on any of them yet. They don't blue screen either for your information.
Yeah, its now the "mauve screen of death".
Simple plan:
1) Get shared source license from Microsoft.
2) Add a whole bunch of GPL-ed Linux kernel code.
3) Wait six months until Microsoft incorporates the improvements back into the main Windows CE branch.
4) Sue.
5) Profit!
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Actually ... it'd be more like:
e DC(NULL);
// Undocumented Win32 GDI function // Undocumented Win32 GDI function // Used in core kernel RING0 code only
#include "stdafx.h"
CDC dc;
CBrush blueBrush(RGB(0,0,255));
CBrush whiteBrush(RGB(255,255,255));
dc.CreateCompatibl
CBrush *oldbrush = dc.SelectObject(&blueBrush);
while(TRUE)
{
dc.FillEntireGoddamnScreen(&blueBrush);
dc.MakeUpAndDrawScreenDump(&whiteBrush);
MakeHardDriveLightFlash();
}
DrPascal: Not the language, the mathematician.
(oh well.. a man can dream, can't he?)
Do you meant to tell me that Hell has finally frozen over? Now I don't feel so bad about going there when I die...
I still have reservations about this, even after reading this particular blurb. But it is a step in the right direction. Can't believe I'm saying this, but Kudos to Microsoft.
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
From the article: ...the company is allowing the blueprints to its software...
We don't want the design notes - we want the source code!!!
Follow me
And combine that with their stated "We won't use your code for 6 months" and ... If you find an exploit, and submit a bug fix for it, you can cheerfully go on abusing the exploit for another half a year!
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Quote from the first article:
But if it is altered to work particularly in one device, with "value-added engineering," the modifier retains ownership of the changed portions, although it must sublicense a copy to Microsoft.
Hey, that's as viral as the GPL! We're almost winning!