Windows as an open source platform

A few weeks back, Stephe Walli posted a shot over Microsoft's bow. Actually, Stephe is still in full detox mode, and I think sometimes gets a little too worked up about his alma mater, but he makes some good points, all the same.

Stephe asks why, if Microsoft suddenly cares so much about the open source community and learning from it, doesn't it simply join the community? While at Microsoft, Stephe helped to launch an open source project or three, so he has street cred on the matter. Microsoft has toe-dipped in open source, in other words, but he'd like to see the company do more.

I have an alternative proposition to make, one that I've encouraged Jason to speak about at OSBC Boston later this year. (November 1-2, 2005) Windows is arguably the world's most pervasive platform (probably equal to or greater than the Internet at this point, frankly, as many who use Windows don't actively use the 'Net, or do so at dial-up speeds, which is basically the same as not using it at all. Why not foster robust open source communities on Windows and IE?

The defaults, of course, are Linux and FireFox. This is already happening. Even with closed-source software, for example, FireFox is increasingly getting equal time to IE: I don't believe I saw a single demo at this year's DEMO conference that wasn't running on FireFox, instead of IE. Open source platforms are gaining mindshare - it's only a matter of time before that mindshare translates into serious market share.

Yes, Windows is still king/queen for now, but I can see this starting to fade...not through the enterprise (which is dull and conservative), but rather through the consumer space. Already, many of the apps I willingly, gladly use on my computers (Windows, Mac, and Linux) are open source. Not because they're open source, but because they're better. From FireFox to VLC (it plays EVERYTHING), my desktop increasingly looks like an open source playground, no matter the office suite I may be using at any given time.

So, again, why not foster Windows as a breeding ground for open source application innovation? Why concede that ground to Linux, or leave it to happenstance that developers will find their way to Windows? This is a pain-free, easy-to-kickstart program for Microsoft that could yield tangible benefits.

And yet Microsoft does nothing.