[ale] OT - Microsoft goes Open Source

[Charles Shapiro]

I went to a Java conference back in October where a couple of Famous
Java Dudes (Stuart Halloway and David Thomas, specifically) claimed that
Microsoft would release a "major" Open Source application within the
next five years. I tried like heck to get a Long Bet on with 'em (see 
http://longbets.org for details on this program), but alas I never heard
back from 'em once they learned that they'd have to put up $500 which
they wouldn't get back. Long bet money goes to charity -- all you get is
bragging rights. 

Looks like maybe they had a decent chance of winning too. It would've
been worth it for the publicity I'd think. Foo. Wimps.

-- CHS

On Thu, 2004-04-08 at 16:38, Dow Hurst wrote:
> A nod toward surviving in a new world?  I agree with Aaron that this is 
> probably one of the least Open Source in philosophy releases or the least 
> impacting they could put out there since it promotes a Windows OS.  Unless, 
> this release could help out Wine and Codeweavers.  However, I bet we see more 
> as MicroSoft starts feeling the pinch.  What do you say that we make a bet? 
> We could have a poll as to how long before MicroSoft loses a 30% increment of 
> it MSOffice market.  Those who pick the right dates contribute money toward an 
> Opensource project of their choosing(can't be your own project). ;)
> 
> We could even do the poll in increments of 10% for OS, Enterprise, and Office 
> categories.  So I could say 3 years and 40% of Exchange lost to MS.
> 
> Fun to brainstorm on this topic!
> Dow
> 
> 
> Keith R. Watson wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > Another sysadmin sent me this and I thought the list might like to know 
> > about it considering Microsoft's previous stand on the subject of open 
> > source.
> > 
> > http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5185549.html
> > 
> > Microsoft -- facing increasing pressure from open-source competition -- 
> > made a nod to open source fans on Monday. The company "published the 
> > code for one of its products on an open-source software development Web 
> > site late Monday, departing from its hard-line stance against making the 
> > underlying components of its technology available to the general 
> > public," CNET's News.com reported. "Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft 
> > revealed the code for its Windows Installer XML (WiX) software, a set of 
> > tools used to build installation packages for the company's Windows 
> > products from XML source code. According to the information posted on 
> > the SourceForge site, a resource for open-source collaboration projects, 
> > the actual code Microsoft published supports an environment that 
> > software developers can use for creating Windows setup packages."
> > . CNET's News.com: Microsoft Airs Tools' Source Code Online
> > 
> > 
> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/wix/
> > http://wix.sourceforge.net/
> > 
> >    this redirects to
> > 
> > http://blogs.msdn.com/robmen/category/4625.aspx
> > 
> > 
> > in shock,
> > keith
> > 
> > -------------
> > 
> > Keith R. Watson                        GTRI/ITD
> > Systems Support Specialist III         Georgia Tech Research Institute
> > keith.watson at gtri.gatech.edu           Atlanta, GA  30332-0816
> > 404-894-0836
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> >