Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: MS and Open Source
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 03:54:08 -0400
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/04/16/microsoft.open.source.ap/index.h tml Microsoft learns a lesson from competition SEATTLE, Washington (AP) --For most of its corporate life, Microsoft Corp. has built its software monopoly -- and earned billions -- around the idea that software should be sold, not given away, and that the blueprints ought to be shielded by a high-security fortress of technical safeguards. The company's very public campaign against the idea of freely sharing its software blueprints, called source code, came to a head early last summer. Microsoft's notoriously outspoken chief executive, Steve Ballmer, told a reporter that a competing "open-source" system called Linux was "a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual-property sense to everything it touches." These days, Microsoft is singing a slightly different tune. The company says it still believes its software blueprints should be closely held, but says it has come to see the value in sharing some source code with some of its best customers and selected academic institutions. "We're learning from open source," program manager Jason Matusow says. Microsoft has started to allow access of Windows code to some of its bigger corporate customers and some outside technical experts who put together and manage large computer systems. Many contend that Microsoft still has a long way to go, however. <snip> For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: MS and Open Source Dave Farber (Apr 17)