I've hated Microsoft for much of my life. I try not to make it a religious issue, but I'm worried about github. If they open sourced it I would no longer be worried.
They won't, though. They won't open Windows or Office either.
They won't, though. They won't open Windows or Office either.
I mean--I used to use Skype all the time, but now I use something else. If MS breaks Github, there are options.
They use it to manage issues, wikis, releases, orgs & commit permissions, etc. Some of that stuff is easier to migrate than others...
This is not a case of Red Hat EL vs Oracle Linux. Microsoft has a mean enterprise sales machine and it's huge. All those Microsoft sales folks want to hear from a competitor is "oh, by the way, our enterprise SCM offering is based on a Microsoft solution".
But windows must be a colossal mass of who knows what at this point. I'd be embarrassed to open that cupboard for all and sundry to inspect. And likely a double edged sword in terms of security.
The idea - in any form - really does make one think, and kinda hard. The world would indeed be a very different place. I wonder what kind of innovation such a move would stifle?
Hmm, maybe superscalar/moonshot-level competition would be defined by and buoyed by 10-year disclosure! That would be kinda fun...!
Regarding Windows, those who poked around the Win2K and WinNT leaks regarded the code as reasonably well-written, so there's that. The Windows Research Kernel is somewhat more straightforwardly accessible; "wrk-1.2" will find innumerable copies rehosted on GitHub.
Regarding security, yes, it would be a payday loan. The NSA tool leak had some pretty old things in it that still did a fair chunk of damage.