[ Thanks to Rob
Fenwick for this link. ]
“You may be wondering what the effects of somebody stealing
Microsoft source code could be? Could it be used against Microsoft
to destroy them? Could it be used to destroy the outstanding work
done by the free software community (with code released under the
GNU General Public License)? Unfortunately the effects, as this
Linux Journal article shows, are potentially devastating to the
free software commuity.”
“Corel have turned their Windows software such as Draw and
WordPerfect Office 2000 into Linux software using Wine and Winelib,
as it has allowed easy porting of Windows software to Linux.
Therefore Corel (even though they are part owned by Microsoft) are
extremeley dependant on Wine, and have in fact been contributing to
Wine’s development for some time, by providing bug fixes. Since
their investment in Corel, Microsoft have persuaded Corel to “.NET”
enable their applications, which includes, presumably, their Linux
software — which runs on Linux due to Wine and Winelib.”
“Therefore, it would seem that although they may not want it
to be, Wine and Winelib are actually essential to Microsoft’s
attempts to embrace Linux. Currently Wine is legal since none
of the developers have seen Microsoft source code, although if
people that had seen the source code contributed to Wine, would
Microsoft attempt to claim damages, even though the software would
currently seem central to Microsoft’s Linux plans?”