I eared that Mr. Bill Gates will leave Microsoft, although he will stil having actions of it. ... what I ask you is if you belive, Windows to be opensource?

No. They haven't released even MS-DOS source, so I think "OpenSource Windows" is not going to happen.

P.S. This questions have nothing to do with Linux. I think it should be moved to "General".

And I have made it so. Windows questions go into General.

Yes. When the Pope becomes Protestant.

I could have sworn I have seen a thread like this a few months back. De-ja-vu.


Windows will become open source on the first Monday of the first Month, after X-Day when the moon is setting orange, after the Jade Monkey has been found.

Please allow me to paraphrase:

"When monkeys fly out of my butt."

LOL... :x
I though maybe they could became smart or so ... :s

The only effect of Bill's departure from Microsoft on Windows going opensource would be to make it ten times more UNlikely. It's not been Bill Gates that has made MS the way it is today, it's Steve Ballmer, and he's still there.

A better question would be: If Windows were made open source, would it be a better OS? I personally don't think it would...

It wouldn't all of the sudden be any better, but it might become better.

Of course WinDuhs will become open source - when:

a. the devil's abode has a temperature at or below 273.15 Kelvin
and
b. When you cannot go outside without carrying a large rugged umbrella due to the winged pigs

I disagree. While Ballmer is arguably a poster boy for corporate greed, there are any number of people--including Gates--who could have steered things very differently. More fundamentally, MS is built on a business model of proprietary software. That is the basis for their culture.

OpenSource is a powerful force in the SW world, but the proprietary model will not go away any time soon. What we CAN hope for is that a new US administration will allow us to get back to controlling monopolies and dealing with corporate greed.

With or without rational government action, the market will force MS to evolve. They won't just wake up one morning and decide to open one of their products.

Well Bill Gates did indeed spurn open source in his open letter to hobbyist. Along with popularizing the PC, he (and Microsoft), is credited with creating proprietary software.

By the way, I don't think the US administration will make monopolies go away. Monopolies aren't illegal in the US. What the US does protect is competition, which is only slightly different.

True, it could become better. But what do you think we could improve in Windows. I mean, it is no Slackware, but most of the things that many see as a flaw, already has a solution. For example, you can easily increase security with free anti-virus, free firewall and free anti-spyware.

You can easily enhance the command-line with cygwin or GnuWin32. You can add free tools to get virtual desktops to increase your productivety. The majority of good open source applications already run in Windows... from vim to GIMP.

So, hypothetically, if Windows would become open source (we know it won't, but this thread is not to be taken seriously anyway), what could be improved. Let's talk about XP, which is the most used OS in the World and let Vista receive its 1 or 2 SP which it needs.

I personally, don't see how Windows (XP) can be any better. Either by single, hobbyst programmers or to giants like Adobe, Windows has everything you will ever need: Development, Gaming, Server. Including power open-sourced applications. And hardware support from the big fat majority of vendors in the planet.

P.S: Try to answer the above without comparing Windows to Slackware, because Slackware is the only true OS. No bugs and stable. It is also the most secure out of the box. We all know that =)

For one I would like to see a clear separation (sp?) of user-space and kernel space. AFAIUI, XP and all other windows versions, have e.g. the windowing system hardcoded into the kernel, rather than letting it live in user-space like X. (so a problem in de windowing system may bring the system down, rather than only the windowing system). <- actually, this is most important to me, the windows kernel does too many things in kernel space, that should be left to user space.

I would introduce a user-space file system (by default).

I would rewrite much of the code to be in c for more flexibility and portability. Also, c would allow a greater proportion of the community to actually read and understand the zillions of lines in windows.

Well, maybe I'll think of something else

Of course, when I say 'I would' I don't mean 'I personally would', but rather it means 'Someone way smarter than I could try and implement that'.