Until Windows is a free platform, I think you'll always find that it's relatively difficult to find, use, and develop free software there and that the users of

Until Windows is a free platform, I think you'll always find that it's relatively difficult to find, use, and develop free software there and that the users of the platform will tend to be people who care less about free software. Having said that, things would be better for free software contributors and users if Microsoft were merely passively uninterested in software freedom. I think the first thing for them to do is to stop actively opposing the free software community. Microsoft has repeatedly attacked free software projects on the .NET platform, from NUnit to NAnt to NDoc, by launching alternatives with few or no technical advantages. This not only destroys momentum, but it strengthens the cultural tendency among Microsoft customers to distrust anything that does not originate in Redmond. Lately Microsoft has released some of their software under liberal licensing terms. I think this won't help much, so long as they discourage and hamper participation beyond consumption by members of the public.