Microsoft Open Source is missing the point

1999-05-14

It is reported that Microsoft is still considering opening its source code, osensibly as a response to the “threat” from Linux. However, there are some gaping differences between the two camps’ concepts of open source.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft president, gave a very clear perspective on Microsoft’s position – that some parts of the Microsoft source code could be published or licensed to enable applications to be built more quickly. In other words, if you can see what the code is doing, you can understand it better and use it more wisely.

The approach to development of Linux could not be more different. Here, the Linux source is released in its entirety \i{for development}, so that anyone who wants to modify the code can do so. Changes and extensions to the code are fed back and accepted (or otherwise) in a subsequent release. In other words, there is an open software development process in which the ability to read the code is only one element.

The thought of allowing others to actually modify Microsoft code still seems a little alien to Mr Ballmer, who is promoting only a very restricted definition of the “open” concept. Whilst the Microsoft move might seem relevant to the strategists, it is unlikely to cut much ice with the developers on the ground.

(First published 14 May 1999)