Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#41

Post by fbeans » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:32 PM UTC

MrZongle2 wrote: post #30

sai1511 wrote: post #9

I think making IE open source will be very interesting....!

Maybe in the same way a tour of a sausage factory would be interesting....

Although a sausage factory would be bad, at least each tour would be standard, and at least visiting that sausage factory wouldn't compromise your security and your liberty and finally when you get home with your free tour sausages, at least they'd interact with your saucepan the same way all the other sausages do.

Perhaps I've taken this meataphor too far?

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#42

Post by sirkneeland » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:33 PM UTC

dtech wrote: post #37

sai1511 wrote: post #9

I think making IE open source will be very interesting....!

Well they just released source from 1980 and IE1 is from 1995, so wait another 15 years.

And when they release the source code for IE6, there will still be people using it...

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#43

Post by shmerl » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:34 PM UTC

is it useful for DOSbox?

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#44

Post by ct1 » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:34 PM UTC

RyanZAG wrote: post #24

spodek wrote: post #10

Under what license? Can we view, modify, redistribute? No one wants to get sued for these things, or being found to violate some end user license agreement with some other Microsoft software. On the other hand, I'd love to find out that people viewing this code contribute an improvement that no one in Microsoft saw in decades that helps them improve something today, leading them to soften their stance on Free Softwar…

Not only are you not allowed to distribute it by the license, actually distributing it would get you sued for patent violation. Using anything you find in the code will probably get you sued for patent violation, too. EDIT: I can just imagine a future lawsuit: A: Did you read the MS-DOS source code released by Microsoft on XX? We have logs to show you downloaded it. B: Yes, but that has nothing to do with this lawsui…

MS-DOS is maybe the ugliest operating system I ever had the displeasure of using.

There's very little to learn from operating system design point of view in there, and better sources are available under more permissive licenses -- ie open source licenses.

It looks like a PR stunt to me.

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#45

Post by delinka » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:37 PM UTC

squintychino wrote: post #21

herge wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can a license allow modification without redistribution?

Why do you have to redistribute something in order to modify it? Just modify it for your own personal use.

Since when do you need a license to modify something for your own personal use? If they've given me access to the source, I can just start editing to my heart's content...

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#46

Post by baddox » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:38 PM UTC

herge wrote: post #16

gnoway wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft Research License. Yes, Yes, No.

How can a license allow modification without redistribution?

How can a license do anything? They write the license, the government enforces it.

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#47

Post by chimeracoder » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:42 PM UTC

delinka wrote: post #45

squintychino wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you have to redistribute something in order to modify it? Just modify it for your own personal use.

Since when do you need a license to modify something for your own personal use? If they've given me access to the source, I can just start editing to my heart's content...

Practically, yes, but legally, you may not have the rights to.

That's why it's explicitly listed as part of Freedom 1 of the four freedoms of software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#48

Post by segmondy » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:43 PM UTC

ct1 wrote: post #44

RyanZAG wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only are you not allowed to distribute it by the license, actually distributing it would get you sued for patent violation. Using anything you find in the code will probably get you sued for patent violation, too. EDIT: I can just imagine a future lawsuit: A: Did you read the MS-DOS source code released by Microsoft on XX? We have logs to show you downloaded it. B: Yes, but that has nothing to do with this lawsui…

MS-DOS is maybe the ugliest operating system I ever had the displeasure of using. There's very little to learn from operating system design point of view in there, and better sources are available under more permissive licenses -- ie open source licenses. It looks like a PR stunt to me.

It served it's purpose for it's time. When I had an 8088 computer, MS-DOS was great enough for me, it was simple, fun to understand and work with. Like any OS it had it's quirks, but it got out of the way. Yes, minix ran on 286, so MS could have/should have, but that was then. Don't judge them too harsh.

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#49

Post by IgorPartola » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:43 PM UTC

ct1 wrote: post #44

RyanZAG wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only are you not allowed to distribute it by the license, actually distributing it would get you sued for patent violation. Using anything you find in the code will probably get you sued for patent violation, too. EDIT: I can just imagine a future lawsuit: A: Did you read the MS-DOS source code released by Microsoft on XX? We have logs to show you downloaded it. B: Yes, but that has nothing to do with this lawsui…

MS-DOS is maybe the ugliest operating system I ever had the displeasure of using. There's very little to learn from operating system design point of view in there, and better sources are available under more permissive licenses -- ie open source licenses. It looks like a PR stunt to me.

True. Except if you are someone like DOSBox or FreeDOS and want to know how/why some quirk happens in MS-DOS that makes some program go, but not in your code, now you can figure out what's up.

In reality, getting the Windows source released so that the Wine team can do this would be much more useful. From what I understand Windows has a lot more undocumented but widely used API's that Wine tries to emulate by trial and error. Instead of having a complete emulation they break it down by which programs it can and cannot run because of these hidden API's.

This is definitely a publicity stunt, no question about it. It still provides some very minimal value and perhaps this is MS dipping their toes into the OSS water when it comes to old commercial products.

Re: Microsoft makes source code for MS-DOS and Word for Windows available to public

#50

Post by smtddr » Tue, Mar 25, 2014, 5:44 PM UTC

nealabq wrote: post #32

herge wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can a license allow modification without redistribution?

So you can't publish a modified version. But can you publish a diff, which someone could use to recreate your modified version?

FWIW, the ROM community does this sometimes.

There are SueprMarioBros. edits where they only distribute the patching file and the patcher program... just not the original ROM itself. They leave that for you to find somewhere...