Why doesn't Microsoft make Windows 3.1 open source? There are no more 16-bit operating systems, so it's not like they use the same code from 30 years ago in Windows 10.
Why doesn't Microsoft make Windows 3.1 open source? There are no more 16-bit operating systems...
Colton Garcia
Justin Moore
You would think so
Ryder Lee
Because they're a bunch of capitalistic assholes who don't want their source code to be used for profit even though it wouldn't really occur a catastrophe for their economy because they could always slap with that copyright infringement.
Jacob Butler
Because if the source is made public they will probably be sued into oblivion by parties who find unauthorized use of their intellectual property.
Ryder Gomez
because W10 kernel probably still uses parts of 3.1 :^)
Lucas Baker
This is a great question. Maybe it's a liability to do that in some way.
I remember on HN people posting the Win95 source and it was filled with swearing in its comments. Maybe Win3.1 is similar...
Tyler Richardson
Didn't someone get the win95 source code to build?
Grayson Hughes
Windows 3.1 is written in language that no longer is taught or documented. Therefore it is impossible to hack. CERN is running its time machine research on system based on Windows 3.1. NSA relies on Windows 3.1 for utmost security. Your tax records likely are protected by Windows 3.1.
Of course Stallman wants to crack that open, he's an israeli mossad agent and fanatic jew.
Brody Cook
>it's not like they use the same code from 30 years ago in Windows 10.
haha, yeah, surely they wouldn't do that
haha
Grayson Rodriguez
c?
Colton Harris
I feel old now (b.1983). Win 3.0 came out in 1990, W3.1 in 1992.
Thomas Morgan
It's murricaland, they will get patent and copyright lawsuits.
Also, I figure there might be actual companies that would determine this to be the OS of choice for their legacy DOS / Windows applications and save license costs while continuing their move to Linux and Android.
Leo Cruz
>github.com
they open sourced winfile and the code is a mess, I don't even want to imagine the 3.11 codebase
Lucas Jenkins
That would make it even more aesthetic.
Adam Ortiz
fucking commie
Easton Sanchez
why would they make it open source? It's not like anyone gives a shit
Also i bet there is, in things like Notepad or WordPad or control panel or whatever
Jonathan Jackson
Joseph Rogers
>PROGRAMMERS
>USE
>TOY
>LANGUAGES
Ryan Hill
The DOS 6 source got leaked at one point with source for the windows setup program. That's about as close as your gonna get I guess.
Christian Robinson
>it's not like they use the same code from 30 years ago in Windows 10.
MS is great selling the same shit for a decade.
Kevin Ross
Lack of time and general interest, it's not just a matter of having an intern dig it out of a network file store and throw it on GitHub.
Because of the risk of they would probably have to go through it with a team of lawyers before re-licensing to make sure there is no licensed IP, and if there is they would either have to contact the holder and get approval or re-write the portion themselves to make it clean, which would require testing and potentially break software compatibility.
That takes a lot of time and effort, and in the end, for what? So some freetard who never had any intention of auditing or even using the code could furiously masturbate to how much more "ethical" it is? Some bug fixes from hobbyists? It's not going to automatically make the system better nor re-kindle any interest in it, it's objectively terrible by design.
It's even worse than the morons who constantly cry about open-sourcing old SysVs because they think it's some magical cure for... whatever.
Thomas Stewart
Bill Gates ultimately got >$20k or more per man-hour spent as the user base grew, right?
Yet the market wasn't really flooded with a deluge of good software by him.
Daniel Bailey
This is probably true. Microsoft recently had to fix a bug in Windows 10 that was left over from Windows 95.
Hudson Lopez
Why doesn't microsoft make all of their dev tools going all the way back to the 80s and 90s open source? Why don't they make edgeHTML open source?
Cooper Peterson
It was the NT4 source code
It's almost complete, the only thing missing is some bit missing has to do with IP networking
Nathaniel White
It's Microsoft
Jonathan Young
>There are no more 16-bit operating systems, so it's not like they use the same code from 30 years ago in Windows 10.
They still do use 16-bit code and have compatibility layers for it.
Would be stupid to open source it.
Nice try though Wine devs.
Jonathan Wright
Just because something isn't still being sold or used today doesn't mean it should suddenly become open source. The issue lies in a few different factors:
1) the least important factor, but there are literally still businesses using Windows 3.11 today. Some POS and inventory systems that have been in use for 30 years still run just fine with it. Making it open source would open up a whole new world of exploits and hacks allowing people to defraud small business and small branch facilities of larger companies. (Sadly, I've even seen some handheld inventory devices still running CE)
2) Microsoft would likely open themselves up to a metric fuck ton of copyright litigation from things Bill Gates added to Windows 3x without properly acquiring the rights. That alone is more than enough reason not to make it open source.
3) what positive financial traction would Microsoft be able to leverage from making it open source? Further, what kind of message would that send to the rest of the world? That would set an expectation of precedent where they'd be expected to eventually do the same with Win9x, Me, and everything from the NT family at some point.
There's just no real reason for Microsoft to ever do something like that. They're a company that produces proprietary hardware and software, expecting otherwise is like expecting the FSF to suddenly go full proprietary with some of their older software. It just doesn't make sense.
Josiah Lee
There are critical infrastructure like Nuclear missles that still run on Windows 3.1 and older.
Nathaniel Jones
The innovations in 3.1 are the reason why Windows is what it is today. If they released all their trade secrets to the public, people can use their innovative ideas and easily innovate without putting the tonnes of money poured into R&D and innovation.
Microsoft isn't going to give you something that they worked so hard to innovate.
Benjamin Lewis
It's written in C, you autistic fucking nigger piece of shit
William Gonzalez
Forget about windows. Make something better. The market is so shit now.
Liam Harris
the whole point of keeping windows 3.1 closed sorce is to keep freetards from making their OS function.
If those freetards got a hold of these codes they could make linux on the desktop real so we have to stop them so it stays closed
nodody has active patents on windows 3.1
its dead and in cold dead
Sebastian Hernandez
It would be cool to fix it. Just use some code from the BSD kernel
Caleb Howard
It can be "fixed" by taking the missing dll from an NT4 CD
Oliver Moore
You bet
Benjamin Diaz
Because it still runs industrial systems.
If ever, they may release it after they abolish the pc. If ever.
>tfw people honestly believe tablets and servers will replace all pcs and that pcs that run on the wire are irrelevant.
>tfw microshits and appr products can't be made because there are no more pcs to run the manufacturing lines.
>tfw not even loonix can help and millennial faggots will not realize this until they can no longer buy new phablets and watches.
>tfw someone will suggest we fix this with the cloud or JavaScript.
Hunter Jenkins
I don't feel so good...
Carson Gutierrez
>it's not like they use the same code from 30 years ago in Windows 10
user, i...
Andrew Foster
Because they have no reason to
Sebastian Bell
Is ReactOS taking advantage of this?
Gavin Hernandez
Cuz Windows 10 is a superset of Windows 3.1 ;)
Bentley Cook
Probably not, they would be sued
Cameron Nelson
this
itprotoday.com
when you think about spectre and meltdown being the first major hardware bugs discovered, you wonder how many more are sitting in silicon to be discovered
Mason Bell
are you talking about the windows 2000 source code that got leaked on the internet several years ago?
Aaron Bennett
>Micro-soft
Seriously?!
Hunter Sullivan
You know that nothing's free in communism, right? Hell, it is even more expensive than under capitalism
Colton Parker
Here's your answer
Aaron Kelly
yes they do
Adam Gutierrez
This is got to be the worst bait ever.
Grayson Clark
>it's not like they use the same code from 30 years ago in Windows 10.
hue hue hue
Cameron Powell
it's not bait if it's true
Kayden Perez
you realise microsoft is just a contraction of 'microcomputer' and 'software', right?
Cameron Sullivan
what