Re: Apple Sauce

Kragen Sitaker (kragen@pobox.com)
Wed, 24 Mar 1999 14:30:23 -0500 (EST)

JoeBar wrote:
> From: Kragen Sitaker <kragen@pobox.com>
> > But the point is, it's better to have 5+b$ companies that don't try at
> > all than 5+b$ companies that try, but don't get it.
>
> Okay, so Microsoft shouldn't even bother trying, right?
>
> I can just see the press release now.
>
> Microsoft (Redmond, WA): In a gesture of support for the open-source movement,
> Microsoft has decided to not release any of its source code. "After
> consulting with the leaders of the open source movement, we realized
> that it would be better to keep our source private than to release it
> as Apple, IBM, et. al. have done, under terms and conditions that offend
> the open source purists."

I think Microsoft should bother trying, but yes, it would be better
(for us, the customers, not Microsoft) if they didn't bother trying
than if they tried and did something like what Apple has done.

But AFAIK, the "Open Source" people -- OSI -- are OK with Apple, and
they're not offended with IBM, either. It's the "Free Software" people
who are opposed.

> P.S. Actually, Microsoft does distribute a lot of its source code, and has
> done so for years.

Yes, I know. I have MFC on my machine, for example. It's a totally
different thing from free software or "open source".

-- 
<kragen@pobox.com>       Kragen Sitaker     <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/>
We are forming cells within a global brain and we are excited that we might
start to think collectively.  What becomes of us still hangs crucially on
how we think individually.  -- Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web