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I think that Microsoft can open-source most of Windows sources. Nobody would care too much about few binary blobs and I don't believe that they don't own licens
by vbezhenar 6y ago
I think that Microsoft can open-source most of Windows sources. Nobody would care too much about few binary blobs and I don't believe that they don't own license for a significant portion of OS.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoThis is exactly what happened with Solaris, and it turned out to be a rather massive problem because it meant that the community couldn't actually functionally produce a derivative distribution because the original released source code didn't actually represent the entire distribution. And a project that the community can't build will always be critically undermined by that flaw.
- lmm 6y agoIt was a solvable problem though, right? A bunch of different OpenSolaris distributions exist now.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoI dunno if I'd call it "solved" or not... Illumos reduced the binary blobs, but to this day you have to download a bundle of them when you build it. The whole issue also added significant friction early on, which I personally think stunted the project's growth, but I'm not sure that really knowable. But yes, it did eventually get mitigated.
- vbezhenar 6y agoI think that momentum behind Open Source Windows would be immense so community would overcome any problems. I mean, people are making Windows distributions right now, with all sources closed, and they're making amazing work if you ask me, with all those reverse-engineered knobs and whistles. Solaris is niche OS after all unlike Windows.