[ Thanks to Howard B. Golden and
Mikael Pawlo for this link.
]
Microsoft has posted Craig Mundie’s complete speech to its web
site. It appears Mr. Mundie has added a new word to the tech
lexicon by saying “Microsoft is expanding its licensing model to
include our “Shared Source Philosophy” and goes on to raise the
specter of forking and “inherent security risks” in open source
software.
“…As a result of Microsoft’s statement of position today, many
people will attempt to say that Shared Source is Microsoft’s failed
attempt at being an Open Source Company. This could not be a more
incorrect statement. Shared Source is not Open Source. We recognize
that OSS has some benefits, such as the fostering of community,
improved feedback and augmented debugging. We are always looking
for ways to improve our products and make our customers more
successful, and to that end we have incorporated these positive OSS
elements in Shared Source. But there are significant drawbacks to
OSS as well.”
“The OSS development model leads to a strong possibility of
unhealthy “forking” of a code base, resulting in the development of
multiple incompatible versions of programs, weakened
interoperability, product instability, and hindering businesses?
ability to strategically plan for the future. Furthermore, it has
inherent security risks and can force intellectual property into
the public domain.”