Microsoft Plans an Upgrade of Windows 98 nytimes.com
On that subject, there was this somewhat confused article in today's NYT. First, the amusing part:
Microsoft will ship an upgraded version of Windows 98 next year because of delays in developing a consumer version of its Windows 2000 system, the company said Wednesday.
Microsoft's president, Steven Ballmer, told the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Los Angeles that the upgrade would be called Consumer Windows for 2000 and would be aimed at the home-networking market, helping users link personal computers, printers, digital cameras and other devices.
Microsoft had planned to supersede Windows 98 with a consumer version of Windows 2000, an operating system for corporate users that is scheduled to be shipped in the second half of this year as a successor to Windows NT.
So, because of the slippage in the "consumer" version of the OS formerly known as NT2K, not to mention the non-consumer version of the self-same OS, there will be a "new" Windows 9x. And, so as not to confuse things with the new "Windows 2000" moniker for NT, it will be called "Consumer Windows for 2000". I think the neologistics department is showing signs of stress these days. Anyway, on to the "open source" issue:
Brian Valentine, Microsoft's vice president for Windows 2000, also told the Los Angeles conference that Microsoft was considering making its computer source code more freely available.
Microsoft has studied the issue over the last six months and is "seriously considering looking at doing open source," a policy of making code available to promote faster and better development by programmers, Mr. Valentine said.
"I don't have a problem with putting the Windows code out there," he added.
Well, "more freely" needs clarification. As I've mentioned before, the antitrust remedy "forced licensing" is nothing at all like "open source" in the FSF/Linux sense, and I wouldn't hold my breath on the above trial balloonage either. As Stallman said, "Think free speech, not free beer." Maybe Microsoft will set the Win9x source free once Win9x is officially declared dead, or whatever. Like antitrust remedies, it's all way too hypothetical for me until something concrete happens.
Cheers, Dan. |
