"Should we congratulate the new Microsoft premise to offer freely documentation about its protocols and interfaces, and to not sue developers who use it to create code for non-commercial goals, even if they violate Microsoft patents? Yes, I think--even if cautiously. It is falling short of the freedom we are used to, but is a step in the right direction. Unless it is a part of some sinister plan, we should commend Microsoft for it.
"Whether this premise is actually useful in the FOSS world, however, is a completely different question. The legal foundation of FOSS are the FOSS licenses. A contribution is only useful to us if it helps creating software that is under a FOSS license..."
