this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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Probably people think this is a troll or something.
I wrote it because I was surprised, especially since I'm not a fan of microsoft and their policies. Lately, I have the feeling Microsoft is better than Google (relative terms) when it comes to oss.
What is additionally surprising is the breaches of Microsoft services in the last year. There is one every few weeks or so... And then they pick up a backdoor because login took 0.5 instead of 0.1s.
Anyway, his findings are amazing.
This isn't the same thing, but I'm reminded of Minecraft.
Minecraft is a massively popular game. Notch once said he planned to make it open source when its popularity died down. But now Microsoft owns it.
Not only that, but Mojang accounts don't work anymore. You have to have a Microsoft account to play it now. Even trying to download and play an older version of the game offline requires Microsoft to approve it. Microsoft is actively tightening the leash on the game because it makes them money. Open sourcing the game will likely never happen now. The best we can hope for it for versions to fall into public domain after 70-ish years.
That's how I see Microsoft. They only care about what its beneficial for them to drive profits. Working on open source projects, and open sourcing a few of their tools to get the benefits of community adoption and code review is great, sure. But they'd sooner try to incorporate Linux into Windows to keep people in their surveillance ecosystem, than to open source Windows.
Remember when Windows 10 was the last version, until they changed their minds? Remember when they floated the idea of charging a recurring subscription to use Windows, before they silently dropped the idea? Remember when there was credible talk about the next version of Windows being cloud-based where they controlled all your data and you had no privacy? Hell, you have basically no privacy on Windows 10. Trying to reclaim some involves registry edits, special third party tools, and a constant battle with automatic updates reverting your changes.
I'll say it again. Microsoft doesn't care about OSS. It's just currently beneficial for them to pretend they do.
Goggle seemed to care a lot about OSS, then started making everything in Android depend on their proprietary ecosystem to function. Now Google is using the dominant position they got by taking advantage of OSS adoption, and have been pushing privacy-invading standards and trying to get rid of ad blockers online, among many other things.
For these huge companies, OSS is just a tool to get more control and power. The moment it's no longer useful, they'll find ways to work around the license and enshitify everything again.
It keeps happening. I refuse to keep trusting bad actors every time they dangle a shiny trinket over our heads.
I do appreciate the work this person did in finding the bug. It's not all doom and gloom.
I agree with you sentiment here. That's why I wrote 'relative terms' in my comment.
Since Nadela took over, Microsoft did some open thing which benefited community. So, Microsoft opened somewhat.
During the same time, under Pichai, google went the other way: they focus more on monetization and try to control stuff the apple way. Manifest v3? Google also didn't do anything really worth mentioning in the last 10y in terms of products. Well, except 'attention' article. And even this they didn't believe in and they cannot deliver a decent product. I just tried google advanced Gemini and it's, to put it politely, shit. Google also had some positive actions like mainlining a lot of stuff in Linux Kernel to more easily upgrade android.
So, while google is closing down and making mistakes, Microsoft is opening a bit up.
If you look the state from the last year and the state now. Microsoft improved. Google went the other way.
Microsoft doesn't care about open source, they care about the money Cloud Services using open source bring them. I don't think google cares as well. For reason read this: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/