If you've notice the spate of press releases coming out of Microsoft, proclaiming that the governments of India (in December), Russia (in January) and England (the other day) are going to be getting a look at Windows source code, then maybe you'll agree with our suggestion to Microsoft.

Namely, stop telling us how great shared source access is for governments, and starting thinking about maybe issuing some press releases saying that you're going to open up more shared source to developers.

Here's the history: Prodded by the increased popularity of Linux, Microsoft last fall starting opening up Windows source code. For example, on the embedded front, they opened up about 45 percent of Windows CE source code to any organization or individual. Under the shared source license, that code can be modified and redistributed free for non-commercial purposes. (If you want to sell it commercially, licensing and royalties kick in.)

What if you want to see more? Well, for example, some companies can see the whole of the CE source, but they must pay a (separate) licensing fee.

The governments which have signed on with Microsoft that we're referring to here also get to see all 100 percent of Windows source code. (Here, we're obviously talking mainline Windows, rather than CE.)

But the question developers might reasonably ask is, what, if anything, does this mean for me? The answer is, not much.

More specifically, the question revolves around the restriction that's not emphasized in the press releases. Namely, what's the deal with that 55 percent of the code that individuals CAN'T look at for free but which these governments CAN look at? The deal seems to be that no, individuals still can't look at that stuff for free. And, yes, Microsoft likes to get brownie points every time their lawyers sign up another nation. Okay, we get it already. England, India, and Russia make three. What, only 136 more press releases to go?


Alexander Wolfe is executive editor of WindowsForDevices.com

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