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As a practical matter this would most likely be a total non-starter - losing all that licensing revenue in one fell swoop would probably not be palatable to sha
by javanix 13y ago
As a practical matter this would most likely be a total non-starter - losing all that licensing revenue in one fell swoop would probably not be palatable to shareholders.
As a thought experiment, however, it is plenty enticing.
Vulnerabilities would be easier to find (at least at the outset), but with such a huge and slow-moving install base would probably be more serious.
I would imagine "translation" projects such as WINE and Mono would either massively accelerate development, or drastically drop off depending on how many *nix users would move to the new platform.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> As a practical matter this would most likely be a total non-starter - losing all that licensing revenue in one fell swoop would probably not be palatable to shareholders. Recasting licensing charges to large OEMs as "brand certification" charges that are required to use the Windows trademark, and incorporating support pricing schemes that encourage those who want to purchase support to also purchase certified Windows from Microsoft or with hardware from brand-certified OEMs is probably pretty straightforward, and probably preserves a big chunk of the licensing revenue.