On Sun, 26 Dec 2021 at 05:06, Jon Brase <jon.br...@gmail.com> wrote: > > First, I've heard rumors (possibly true, possibly just people trying to make > MS look incompetent) that MS actually lost the source code to some > unspecified legacy version of Windows at some point (has to be legacy because > if it had been a then-current main product line it probably would have killed > them).
I wouldn't be at all surprised. I daresay that there are only a handful of techies left at MS who date back 25+ years. > So if they lost the entire DOS-kernel Windows source tree sometime after the > release of XP, the reason they're not releasing sources for Win 3.x/9x may be > that said sources no longer exist. It could be. OTOH, there were multiple versions, and I'd be surprised if _all_ of them were lost. > Second, assuming they still have the sources, perhaps we can make it worth > their while: basically, propose that they name a price and start a > crowdfunding campaign. I think that the problem isn't money, it's programmer time. Win9x contained several versions of browsers that supported Flash, Java, RealPlayer, etc. This is non-MS code, so the company won't have the permissions to release it. So it has to be removed. I don't think Win9x contained a Netware client, but NT did. Similarly, some network protocols may contain code from other companies. That can't be released. It may contain code from individuals who can't be traced, or who are dead and so cannot give permission. It's not just a case of "what's it worth". It's a case of "how many skilled people working for how long will be needed to go through every line and remove anything that is not MS property." Is there enough documentation of what isn't MS code? Is there code the company can't admit to having stolen without permission? This talk by one of the core engineers of Sun Solaris and later of the Illumos FOSS descendant talks about some of the problems: https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc It's an hour long, fast-paced, goes into some technical detail, and I wasn't able to follow it at any more than 1x speed. There's a lot that is irrelevant, too, but if you can spare an hour, you will see the problems faced by a company that _wanted_ to release its OS as FOSS, and the vast effort it took. MS _doesn't_ want to. It's not just about money. -- Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven UK: (+44) 7939-087884 ~ Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053 _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
