Microsoft've started open-source project for the first time.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115547,00.asp

This may be a good thing?

Dunno, I'd always suspect that MS are working to a different agenda. They seem to be like pig's that have their snout too deeply entrenched in the $$$'s trough. I feel that that cloud's their view point.

It would be pleasing to be proved wrong i.e. that "they've" decided that they want to play on a "level playing field".

We'll see.

regards

John

They are being defeated by Linux, that's why.

I don't trust Uncle Bill at all, there is a secret motive hidden here.
M$ does not do anything unless it favors them, and they can put extra $$ in the bank..........M$ stock has lost a lot of weight on Wall Street, and they can't be trusted to put their users best interest first!!

They are just testing the waters. Don't even think they are turning good, they are just getting ready for a BIG fight against the GPL, both in the courts and in the congress.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111036,00.asp

on the same page from above link was this............
Microsoft Memo Targets Linux

Read my feedback comments to the article on LinuxToday...

http://linuxtoday.com/developer/2004...#talkback_area

Microsoft has eroded their trust with me.

They've consistently shown that they will do anything to make a buck and that there are no lines they won't cross. They will lie, break the law (and throw money at whatever authority charges them) and have NO qualms about abusing their customers (ie: you and me). They've stated over and over that they will not stop until the entire market is under their complete control.

It'll take a lot for me to trust them again...as a developper, I'm staying away from that installer like the plague (not that I have much use for that sort of thing at this time anyway...but still).

Seems pretty pointless to me. 'Trying to improve Microsoft's relationship with the Open Source community' - what kind of BS is that? Ticks me off more than anything.

http://blogs.msdn.com/robmen/archive...05/107709.aspx

i do not trust M$....the only reason they would support open source is because they think that somehow they can buy it...they bought CPM and made it DOS...they bought my beloved foxpro and made it visual foxpro...and ruined it...they bought it because the indexing was faster then they could create....there is no innovation in microsoft...they buy inovation....and then stagnate it..windows was just a stolen Steve Jobs idea....and their bloated windows is nothing more than the sum of down trodden innovators forced to sellout to the m$ giant....Scott McNealy....how could u???.....

after 10 years of ignoring my computer passion...i'm back...using linux..hoping that i can share it....

do u know i have a client who still uses a program i wrote 20 years ago....who has to visit 2nd hand shops to find 386 computers..so he can run my Forth based programs under dr-dos....because he feels if it works don't fix it...i tried porting to windows...and eveything blew up....

ok..i'm ranting....for the 20th anniversary of my writing the program...i'm going to give him a new version,,no charge, written with "C"..under linux...so he can finally buy new hardware...lol....can;t wait to see his face...windows free.....no bugs..no lockups....

ok...i'm going to bed...lol....micro$oft does not care about open source...it cares about controllling all computers...anyone who thinks different is deluding themselves.....

so i remain Micro$oft free

Tom

The day m$ releases all it software under GPL, donates all its patents to the public domain, that day I will forgive them for takeing away users freedom. Until that day, they can be considered less usefull than rubber dog shit.

It's a marketing move... They want to abuse those who know little by seemingly associating them with the growing OpenSource(it's image) because it has a very good reputation in many places... Lure people to them with this beleif("Oh! MS works for community, we're OS, we're good, love us")

Maybe there isn't an alterior motive. Maybe it's just a regular open source project.

Yeah and maybe Bill Gates will become a monk and take a vow of poverty.
Could happen...its not completely inconceivable...


but unlikely.

Ok but then again I read the page... and _really_ this isn't M$ funded at all. It's just a group of guys (14 I believe) who released the code at sourceforge... It says nothing about M$ funding it, supporting it, or anything like that. It's just some people who work for Microsoft with (I suppose / hope) permission to distribute / modify it freely...

If you have a quote that goes against what I said, please (by all means :-) paste it :-D