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.