:ZDNet UK: Open Source, Shared Source or Secret Sauce?
ZDNet UK: Open Source, Shared Source or Secret Sauce? Sep 23, 2002, 02 :30 UTC (19 Talkback[s]) (7461 reads) (Other stories by Peter Judge)
"Shared source is a big PR win for Microsoft. If it flops, as with Windows, it can say its instinct to keep the code to itself was vindicated. "One of the great myths of open source is that everyone wants to look at source code," said Jason Matusow, shared source manager at Microsoft. "We have approached many hundreds (of companies), but most have turned us down. Most say 'we are manufacturers, we don't do source code--that's your job', and others say they expect their systems integrators to deal with any source code issues."
"And if it goes the other way--for example, a popular initiative to share some source code for Windows CE--Microsoft still comes up smelling of roses. The company is seen to have responded to a real demand...
"But in the long term, there are lots more things to be said. In the end, the open-source community will thank Microsoft for pushing the debate on. Let's face it, the polarisation of the debate can get pretty sterile--it's all too easy to apply the usual clichés of Open-Source-Good and Microsoft-Evil..."
