Microsoft Has Now Open-Source Their BASIC Code From 1983

[StarterX4]

All the MS-DOS versions and Windows prior to XP (XP not yet for security reasons) should be Open-Sourced too.

[starshipeleven]

What an irony, Bill Gates wrote his infamous "Open letter to the hobbyists" about BASIC too (Altair one):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists

There he complained about the core idea of open source - freely sharing the development tools.

He complained that everyone was making copies of it without his consent. That's not opensource, that's PirateBay

[starshipeleven]

Exactly the point. He already had his anti open source mentality, that fueled MS for years to come.

Stop it, that's his code, he didn't say "don't share your stuff", he said "don't share my work without paying".

Also can I point out that someone outright stole a roll of paper tape with the software on it?

[rogerx]

Ditto, all old software should be open sourced.

Might be a good thing, versus being forgotten.

[starshipeleven]

All the MS-DOS versions and Windows prior to XP (XP not yet for security reasons) should be Open-Sourced too.

There is nothing you can realistically do to make XP more unsafe at this point. I mean it's a dumpster fire already.

[lixiao]

typo:

This Microsoft BASIC interpreter is written in Assembly, to no surprise considering the vintage of the software.

[shmerl]

Stop it, that's his code, he didn't say "don't share your stuff", he said "don't share my work without paying".

Stop what? He didn't want to open source his code and loathed the sharing of the programming tool. That's very much in line with the whole MS mentality of keeping development tools closed. Nothing to stop here, this letter is quintessential MS.

[starshipeleven]

Stop what?

misrepresenting what he said.

He didn't want to open source his code and loathed the sharing of the programming tool.

The programming tool is his code as well. He wrote this compiler with another guy.

[shmerl]

misrepresenting what he said.

Interpreting rather. He didn't want the sharing of the programming tool. It's pretty self explanatory his whole idea is completely the opposite of open source approach which makes programming tools accessible to everyone and prevents lock-in.

This mentality of Gates fueled MS for years like I said. It's just silly to try to deny it.

[stormcrow]

misrepresenting what he said.
The programming tool is his code as well. He wrote this compiler with another guy.

I think you need to stop defending Gates. His "open letter" is quite infamous in the annals of computing history as a pack of half truths and misdirection. Gates and Allen did not conjure Altair BASIC out of thin air nor did Paul Allen agree with Gate's characterizations in that letter. Gates was pissed off about people "ripping off" his work, while at the same time BASIC itself was invented by Kemeny and Kurtz 10 years earlier which, frankly, Gates and Allen could be said to have ripped off in the same manner if you go by Gate's own words. Gates was a damned hypocrite.

Back then sharing hardware information and computer code was actually the default thing to do between users and scientists and it wasn't till some years later that changed. Every computer system and development environment came with thick books and binders describing the hardware, firmware, op codes, and circuit diagrams, along with most of the commands and languages the system could handle. Ever seen a C-64 manual or the set of binders that came with a PDP-11?

Gates' misrepresentations were part of the thinking that went into fueling the closed software revolution by using accounting tricks that anyone that spent time in front of a computer screen at the time knew were bogus. Locking away knowledge people generally needed to use their software and hardware effectively became the norm eventually culminating in the awful mess that we have now where no one knows much of anything how their computers work and the unfortunate consequences thereof.

Understand me, I'm not arguing against people being paid fair prices for their work, but Gates was trying to argue that all of that was his work and that he should be paid for it, and it absolutely wasn't. If anything he should have been paying Dartmouth College royalties out of every roll of tape sold by his own words, and that never happened. Gates was rightfully vilified for taking the work of others, trying to profit from it, and not contributing anything back but grief.