Microsoft airs tools' source code online

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The viral argument is misdirection - MS doesn't want its bugs fixed!

For example, if Microsoft were to incorporate in Windows XP a clever implementation of a memory-mamangement technique that it found in some GPL-licensed software, Microsoft would, under the GPL, be required to offer ALL of Windows XP under the GPL (the idea being that the rest of Windows XP would be an improvement/addition to the memory management code).

I doubt very much that that would be enforcable under the GPL but IMNAL and it has not been tested in court. In fact, the GPL explicitly states that it is not interested in expanding outside the original code except for "derivative" works.

Nobody would ever be able to prove that Memory Management was the fundamental root of the entire OS since OS's without memory management have been released - granted virtual memory is a core funtion of modern OS's but certainly not all OSes.

This viral story is simply MS's marketing message which they feel they can sell as a justification for their refusal to work with GPL. IMO the real reason id they have a habbit of subverting others code to create new proprietary locks (Kerberos for instance) and releasing the source would eliminate that tactic as a viable method of controling the sheep. The "derivitave" version of Active Directory (for instance) which had MS's Kerberos extension ripped out would probaly become more successful in the user base than the MS product if the designed in "broken features" were eliminated and publicly distributed.

Posted by: oldskool   Posted on: 04/08/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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