An open-source version of Windows would mean not only would we publish Windows source code, we would make it free. That's what open source means. We wouldn't be hosting Minority Student Day if we open-source Windows because we wouldn't have enough profit to pay people, let alone invite in people from the community.
I'm not saying open-source is a bad thing, but it doesn't pay the bills in this company, so we can't embrace that way of doing things. ... We give out free soda pop to everybody who works here. We make our stuff free, people gotta give back the soda pop -- it's just inconsistent with what we do around here.
Ignorance, thy name is Ballmer.
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motters
16 years 33 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago
A 20th century business model
This article is a fair summary. The way that Microsoft currently makes money is based upon 20th century practices, and isn't sustainable in the long run. If Ballmer can't (or won't) see this then I think we can expect to see MS in gradual decline over the next five years.