Hi, no, I wouldnt force MS to much more than being open about how
they are going to change http and other important interfaces, and
to stop others from innovating. They should be welcome to keep the
OS closed if they like. Btw, how fast do you think the Web (with
all its business) would have developed if there had not been a
"View Source" option in your browser? Everyone are grabbing each
others HTML code and scripts to make better sites faster. If HTML
had been closed, as MS certainly would have made it had they been
there first then certainly the web wouldnt have taken off this
way. A good example of how open code enables rather than hurts
business. Future is the hardest of all to predict, but in 1996 I
tried a prototype setup that had a 45 mbit line to Tokyo; we could
see each other, talk naturally, synchronize our actions when we
wanted to show something, send displays over, draw things. I was
surprised how productive it was, almost better than sitting next
to a person. Lets say in 10 years time, when young talents gets
connected all over more and more this way, then they will team
up, do great new things from their homes, the ones with the most
demonstrated talent will perhaps be hired by development firms,
or just form paid relationships with the users of their programs.
Do you think any software firms can survive by selling in house
binaries then? certainly not, the amount of programming talent
out there will be so great that its much beyond any single firm
to compete on just development. But then they'll find new ways. |
