“Microsoft Corp. executives may be of two minds about publicly
releasing its Windows source, but industry watchers say don’t
expect the company to change its licensing policies any time
soon.”
“A number of leaders in the open source community today issued a
public response to Microsoft based on hints from two of its top
executives this week that the company was looking to release part
or all of the NT source code as open source. The authors, several
of whom are part of the Open Source Initiative, noted that while
the organization would welcome a “sincere” Microsoft to the open
source ranks, they remain cautious about Microsoft’s
intentions.”
“”A partial release of components that won’t build into
functioning, usable software won’t attract developers,” note the
OSI authors. “A release of ‘Windows’ that leaves the kernel, the
Windows API [application programming interface] or critical pieces
such as Active Directory, SMB, OLE/DCOM or the Exchange wire
protocol still closed will readily be diagnosed by both developers
and the Justice department as a sham.””