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[Hilos de Discusión] [Fecha] [Tema] [Autor]I'm Open Source, You're Open Source Can't we all just be open source? The success of open source as the buzzword du jour was confirmed completely this week, when Microsoft execs and Vice President Al Gore's Web site each suggested that - yes, now it can be told - they want to be open source, too. Most outlets treated the incidents with open skepticism. Gore's open source appeal came as the candidate took the wraps off his Campaign 2000 site, which proclaimed it was "open source." ZDNet's Joel Deane reported that the site was merely appealing to programmers to look at its source code and suggest ways to improve it. But the merciless nerds at geek-chic site Slashdot.org were unimpressed and a bit offended that the veep was co-opting a term for a software development methodology when what he meant was more along the lines of "keep those cards and letters coming." (Hey, at least Gore's site didn't say "optimized for IE 5.") Meanwhile top Microsoft execs were testing the "open source" waters - or making a cynical ploy to gain points in the antitrust trial by boosting the Linux alternative to Windows. An unbylined report in the Wall Street Journal quoted Brian Valentine, the Microsoft VP in charge of completing Windows 2000, saying the company is "seriously considering" publishing the source programming code of the core of its NT software. Valentine's rationale suggested Redmond has paid close attention to Linux's success story and wants to copy it. "If Linux is popping up ... we're going to study the heck out of it," Valentine said. "If Windows is not appropriate, we're going to go make Windows appropriate." The New York Times' John Markoff, however, doubted that Linux posed any serious threat to Microsoft's enterprise business, as NT still has a large lead in usability and ease of installation. Microsoft's shifts in direction, he reported, had more to do with perceived threats to its dominance at the consumer level, possibly from Sony. TechWeb's Malcolm Maclachlan pointed out that after years of taunting Microsoft for hiding its proprietary code, open source advocates wasted not a moment before turning on its offer to reveal the code. He quoted Michael Tiemann, cofounder of open source company Cygnus, as saying Microsoft was only making the gesture to help its antitrust fight and, besides, the Windows code was too bulky and poorly documented to be of any use to the open source community. Gore's 'Open Source' Blasphemy http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2238420,00.html Clueless Al: VP Doesn't Know Open Source From Open House http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg040899.htm Microsoft Alters Its Windows Strategy, Hinting It May Release Underlying Code http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB923518908911447731.htm Behind the Big Shift on Windows http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/04/biztech/articles/09windows.html Microsoft's Open Source Motives Questioned http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990408S0043