Hello Luggers! I will play the Devil's Advocate here. Consider, for a moment, that the folloing *HYPOTHETICAL* situation is true. Microsoft Corp. has been losing market value rapidly(but it still is the number 1 software company) due to the advancement a much more "stable" and "secure" operating system called GNU/Linux. Since the GNU/Linux operating system, licensed under the GPL is completely open source, *anybody* is allowed to *see* the code. Lets say that Microsoft, to stay at the top, employs a few developers who are skilled at both GNU/Linux and Windows. Microsoft, then asks them to write a clone of the linux kernel for incorporating large chunks of it, maybe even the kernel in its entirety, into the next version of windows. Since M$ is the still the leader, they have the highest market share. Now if almost everybody switches to the new version of windows(based on the linux kernel), they will be in for a pleasant surprise. They will now get a much more stable and secure OS, which unknown to them, is running a replica of the linux kernel. This new OS will please major IT companies, using M$, too, as they will not have scratch their heads over switching to a more stable operating environment. This will mean an increasing demand for the now, stable and secure, OS from Microsoft. Since all patches applied to OSS are open too, M$ can easily incorporate those into windows update. M$ in the meanwhile, does NOT disclose to *anyone* the ingredients of the new OS. Thus M$ keeps making more money, and its market grows, thereby condemning GNU/Linux to realms of geeks, where it had its humble beginnings. Since M$ does not disclose source code, there is no way for others(Read GNU/Linux supporters) to make a claim that the new Windows is a rip off of the Linux kernel. My question is, (discounting the ethical and moral concerns as these cant be counted as legal arguments and assuming that M$ pays enough $$ to the developers to keep their mouth shut) what contract/law/clause/license/etc is there right now to prevent M$ from doing something as dastardly as this? P.S: i dont think that the GPL can be used at M$ is too smart at code obfuscation(i think it means obscuring source code) for people to be able to disassemble their OS and claim it to be a rip-off of linux.
Bhargav Bhatt, Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University. --------------- Is it a co-incidence that Red Hat and Robin Hood share the same initials?