Message-ID: <3B498A55.3E5069BF@idb.hist.no>
Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2001 12:41:25 +0200
From: Helge Hafting <helgehaf@idb.hist.no>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Rick Hohensee <humbubba@smarty.smart.net>
CC: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [OT] Microsoft's word
In-Reply-To: <200107090839.EAA14883@smarty.smart.net>
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Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org

Rick Hohensee wrote:
>
> 
>  I suggest that Microsoft operating system products be surrendered to the
>  public domain, including all sourcecode required to verifiably build
>  exact copies of the entire operating system products, no more than five
>  years after thier market release dates, on a continuing permanent basis.
> 
Five years is a long time.  Sources for windows 1996 anyone?

> This is what a remedy to be asserted upon a Microsoft must be; simple.
> Rather than interfering with Microsoft innovation, this mechanism would
> mandate the birth of it. 

Nope.  It might cause microsoft to ensure that nothing remains backward
compatible for as much as five years.  True innovation is one way, 
obfuscation and needless interface changes and standards
breakage/"extension" 
is the easier route.  What tends to happen when a competitor implements
some popular standard better than ms does?

> This may actually be relatively attractive to Microsoft. 

Perhaps, but not to others, for the above mentioned reasons.

Helge Hafting
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