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Open source, shared source or secret sauce?

Peter Judge ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 20 Sep 2002 08:19 BST

But, within those limits, the scheme does give some developers the benefits of seeing Microsoft's source code. In so doing, it chips away at the benefits the open-source community claims for itself. And this should help us focus on what is really good and bad about each scheme.

Firstly, the old (and somewhat dated) charge that Microsoft's application developers benefit from undocumented APIs their competitors don't know about will be less easy to make in future.

Secondly, it draws attention to the fact that Microsoft really does have an enthusiastic grassroots developer community around at least some of its products. When Microsoft put up a chunk of Windows CE source code on its Web site, it was downloaded 128,000 times -- and the community for embedded systems development is only 300,000 strong, says Matusow.

This initiative only opens up 45 percent of the source, but it is open to anyone, and it allows you to redistribute derivative code -- for non-commercial use. Given the excitement around mobile systems, the popularity is no surprise. Similarly 35,000 people looked at the source for the CLI (common language interface) of Microsoft's .Net Web services environment.

Enthusiasm in these "cool" areas shows that open source is not the only way to build grassroots support. If you like, Microsoft is building a bazaar in its cathedral, to unpick Eric Raymond's memorable phrase.

The fact of this initiative will also change the game when future bugs and weaknesses get uncovered. Many eyes check open source, the argument goes. In open source, bugs come into the open and aren't hidden.

Already Microsoft is geared up with one counter-argument. Every marketing manager from Redmond can trot out a list of bugs in open-source programs -- the current favourite being the flaw that lurked in the Kerberos open-source security system for ten years. Many eyes did not spot that one, says Microsoft.

Now there's another argument. Many eyes will be looking at Microsoft products, and this shows Microsoft is not relying on security through obscurity, says Matusow. Microsoft won't be keeping its bugs to itself, he says, in the hope that no one will notice them, as it has been accused of doing in the past.

As always, it's a consummate marketing move. But at the same time, it looks very much as if Microsoft is genuinely learning something from the open-source movement. Is it possible that both communities may gain from this?

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