Microsoft Could One Day Potentially Open-Source Windows

[Calinou]

Where's the LIKE button when you need it? I relish seeing sane people here.

I would rather find the DISLIKE button.

[nightmarex]

You sound like Linux is already more advanced than Windows. Strangely this Open Source OS still occupies just 1% of PCs in the world, maybe because Linux is one big mess.

Nah, Microsoft won't release Windows source code any time soon, unless they create a new OS from scratch or they go bankrupt or die of other causes. They still haven't released the source code for absolutely irrelevant MS-DOS (ntvdm is the only remnant of it in 32bit Windows).

Depends on what you mean by advanced. Android/Gnu/LLVM/Linux is far more evolved (more diverse ecosystem and tasking) than Windows is by some stretch and it has support for things like USB 3.0 and 64 bit computing much before it's windows counterpart but again, not sure what you mean by advanced.

On subject. I don't care if Windows is ever opensourced but it would be nice if they adopted or even forced some standards. At this point CUPS should be the universal printer interface. A universal Windows/APPLE/Linux peripheral driver would be nice as well for all things usb. Sigh but that would be too convenient.

[birdie]

Depends on what you mean by advanced. Android/Gnu/LLVM/Linux is far more evolved (more diverse ecosystem and tasking) than Windows is by some stretch and it has support for things like USB 3.0 and 64 bit computing much before it's windows counterpart but again, not sure what you mean by advanced.

On subject. I don't care if Windows is ever opensourced but it would be nice if they adopted or even forced some standards. At this point CUPS should be the universal printer interface. A universal Windows/APPLE/Linux peripheral driver would be nice as well for all things usb. Sigh but that would be too convenient.

More diverse? What's missing in Windows again? What is "tasking"?

Evolved how? USB3 drivers are built in in Windows 8. All IHVs also offer drivers for Windows 7 and some even support many years old Windows XP.

64bit computing? Windows XP 64 was released exactly 10 years ago.

So, again, what's more advanced about Linux?

[haagch]

Strangely this Open Source OS still occupies just 1% of PCs in the world, maybe because Linux is one big mess.

Maybe one day I will create a website to write up everything that is wrong with this list.

strg+f pulseaudio:

! Too many layers of abstraction lead to the situation when the user cannot determine why his audio input/output doesn't work (ALSA kernel drivers1 -> ALSA library2 ( -> dmix3 ) -> PulseAudio server4 -> Alsa library5 + Pulse backend6 -> Application - in other words, six layers of audio redirection; or seven layers in case of KDE since they have their own audio subsystem called Phonon).

I don't understand his abstractions. The application outputs to a pulseaudio backend. And then it goes to an alsa library. Okay. Then it goes to a pulseaudio server? Huh? Then it goes to an alsa library. Why? It's more like 2.5 layers.
Application -> Pulseaudio Server -> alsa userspace (why would it go through dmix when pulseaudio is used?) -> alsa kernel driver
Phonon is a "layer of abstraction"? AFAIK it's just a framework that allows telling applications which audio backend to use and which configuration to use. I.e. it's not a "layer of abstraction" but a library that is used to implement your application.

! High definition audio support (>=96KHz, >=24bit) is too often unusable. (Adobe Flash doesn't work with it, old Linux applications do not work with it or produce broken sound).

I bought a USB DAC (Dr. DAC nano) and out of curiosity if it works tried 96 KHz 24 bit output. Of course it worked. Why wouldn't it?

(Linux developers don't care about backward compatibility - OSS is mostly unsupported nowadays, OSSv4 is no longer being developed. ALSA FTW - like it or not) Changing the default sound card for all applications (i.e. for old applications using OSS or ALSA directly) if you have more than one of them is a major PITA.

aoss, padsp

[AndyChow]

I've heard this claim before but I find it extremely unlikely. Windows is one of the two cash cows for Microsoft (the other one being Office). It's what keeps the company profitable, most other business areas of theirs just barely makes a profit or makes a loss (except Office that is). Add to that the lock-in effect of Windows, it's a vital product for them to base all their other products on. No, Windows will not go fully open source, at least not until Microsoft as a company is about to go bust.

Open source != Free. They talked about showing source code. They didn't talk about releasing it with a gpl type licence. And I'm sure they won't allow re-distribution.

What's with all the linux hate on this thread? (not directed at Staffan)

[asdfblah]

Open source != Free. They talked about showing source code. They didn't talk about releasing it with a gpl type licence. And I'm sure they won't allow re-distribution.

What's with all the linux hate on this thread? (not directed at Staffan)

I was going to say exactly this.
I wonder if people are being paid for pro-Microsoft and/or anti-Linux propaganda....

[pal666]

That's a urban legend like dying gaming consoles...
Notebooks are still favored over tablets for surfing as an example. The big tablet hype is over.

thats an urban legend. in reality there are more tablets sold than laptops now. the big laptop hype is over

[pal666]

You assume Microsoft wont get a sizable portion of the tablet market, which they will.

like they've got in smartphones. in your dictionary sizable means 2%

[moilami]

This is irony right? Guys?

Could not be more obvious, and well done

[pal666]

You sound like Linux is already more advanced than Windows. Strangely this Open Source OS still occupies just 1% of PCs in the world

what are you smoking? linux occupies more personal computers than any other os. just androids are working towards 2 billion installs