Microsoft bans open source.

[akiwiguy]

"Microsoft has raised the ire of the open source community with its Windows Marketplace licence by specifically refusing to allow software covered under an open licence to be distributed. The licence, which anyone wishing to distribute Windows, Windows Phone, or Xbox applications through the company's copy of Apple's App Store is required to agree to, is the usual torrent of legalese — but hides a nasty surprise for those who support open source ideals."

Read more here.


Edit by moderator: changing the topic title, let's play nice please

[bommel]

I've heard about this before... sad, very sad only

[Nyx]

I know this upsets a lot of people, I understand why and I definitely want you guys to share your ideas and opinions but I've changed the title of this topic to sound a little nicer, no hard feelings, kay? Now carry on

[bommel]

I know this upsets a lot of people, I understand why and I definitely want you guys to share your ideas and opinions but I've changed the title of this topic to sound a little nicer, no hard feelings, kay? Now carry on

I'm fine with this

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

(i) disclosed or distributed in source code form; - Well.. we can't distribute sourcecode over the marketplace...
(ii) licensed for the purpose of making derivative works; - We also don't really want people to break up the .XAP packages and thinker with them.
(iii) redistributable at no charge. - We don't want people to redistribute the .XAP files at all.

If you do want to Open Source you project there is nothing that stops you from releasing a separate copy with whatever license you want, as long as you doesn't mix in the marketplace in this. The marketplace is designed as a closed system for now and there are several reasons that a too open system for these kind of things isn't that good, foremost piracy.

[bommel]

I won't develop for mobile devices therefore I don't care. I actually don't even like web programming at all. I'm more the classic desktop application programmer ^^

[Kekerusey]

Who cares? Open source people like open source, closed source people like closed source.

I like both but I still think closed source tends to be better than open source ... that's not always true but it seems to be on the Windows platform.

Keke

[Niwantaw]

Open source = a bunch of programmers doing it in their free time after work or whatever
Closed source = a bunch of programmers being paid to do the above

That's just the logic I go on...

[akiwiguy]

I know this upsets a lot of people, I understand why and I definitely want you guys to share your ideas and opinions but I've changed the title of this topic to sound a little nicer, no hard feelings, kay? Now carry on

Aww....
But they are, really. I mean, this wouldn't have happened if Microsoft weren't being so stuck up and added 1 field to the Marketplace submission process: "Source code available from:"
Then, they could legally distribute GPL'd software.

[Human No More]

I'm sure this will annoy both windows Phone developers

Seriously though, I'm not sure how MS expects to do well in phones if it goes on like this, they are actually making Apple look good.

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

I know this upsets a lot of people, I understand why and I definitely want you guys to share your ideas and opinions but I've changed the title of this topic to sound a little nicer, no hard feelings, kay? Now carry on

Aww....
But they are, really. I mean, this wouldn't have happened if Microsoft weren't being so stuck up and added 1 field to the Marketplace submission process: "Source code available from:"
Then, they could legally distribute GPL'd software.

Then they have to provide the option to download and veiw the code on the phone too. How useful is that exactly and how many people do you think would use that?

This isn't anything to care about since you still can, as I said, release another copy of your app/game/whatever via a different distribution channel with whatever you want. There is nothing that says that someone can't release multiple copies of the same thing with different licenses.

Now, if this would be a real problem instead of just some legal coverup this would have been reported repeatedly in the past since that agreement haven't changed since September 2010.

[Nyx]

I'm sure this will annoy both windows Phone developers

Ahaha! xD

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

New "sources" tells me that Apple have the exact same thing in their agreement too, and possibly even Google in their Android marketplace.

Oh god, IDG.se reported about this and the flamewar will be fully taken to Sweden.

These new sources are also telling me that the GPLv3 license isn't too nice to deal with.  Not even Linus Tornvald, the creator of Linux wants

[Human No More]

New "sources" tells me that Apple have the exact same thing in their agreement too, and possibly even Google in their Android marketplace.

Oh god, IDG.se reported about this and the flamewar will be fully taken to Sweden.

These new sources are also telling me that the GPLv3 license isn't too nice to deal with.  Not even Linus Tornvald, the creator of Linux wants

hmm, what exactly is wrong with it?

[Sіr. Ηaxalot]

Well, there is a few major problems, GPL is considered as a "viral" license, if you license your project under GPL, everything must be licensed under the GPL license. This doesn't fit too well with Microsoft since that would affect their APIs.

The sourcecode must also always be available from the distributor. Sure, Microsoft could do some solution where the developer can fill in a link to the sourcecode, but what happens if that link is bogus? Then Microsoft is threatened by a potential lawsuit.

The GPL license also requires the platform to allow anyone to deploy modified versions of the project to their devices. Which is currently not possible on Windows Phone 7 (even though Microsoft did invite a jailbreaking team to discuss the future of homebrew, and they seemed happy even if the details are classified yet).

In the end it's extremely unlikely that Microsoft will ever check the license of any submitted Apps, but since the ToS forbids any licenses that can be a potential "threat" to Microsoft, they can't get sued for not providing sourcecode, not providing a way to deploy modified versions etc.

[Kä'eng]

Who cares? Open source people like open source, closed source people like closed source.

And yet, every mainstream Linux distribution, even notoriously free-software-obsessed Debian, allows you to install closed source software. And both Windows and Mac OS, despite being proprietary, allow you to install free software. It's about choice; that's what smartphone OSes are taking away.

[Kekerusey]

@Haxalot ... isn't it true however that one test case of the GPL never stood up in court? Can't remember why but I think that's true.

Keke

[Niwantaw]

Who cares? Open source people like open source, closed source people like closed source.

And yet, every mainstream Linux distribution, even notoriously free-software-obsessed Debian, allows you to install closed source software. And both Windows and Mac OS, despite being proprietary, allow you to install free software. It's about choice; that's what smartphone OSes are taking away.

actually all smartphone OSs are doing is adding.

You couldn't have open source software on an old phone. But neither could you have closed source software. (or at least you could only have a very small amount that really wasn't very useful)

[Human No More]

Who cares? Open source people like open source, closed source people like closed source.

And yet, every mainstream Linux distribution, even notoriously free-software-obsessed Debian, allows you to install closed source software. And both Windows and Mac OS, despite being proprietary, allow you to install free software. It's about choice; that's what smartphone OSes are taking away.

On Windows and the iphone, yes - on Android, the market is completely optional.

That said, I still disagree with that MS is doing, but Windows Phone is doomed anyway, it will be a 3rd place player at best, possibly 2nd place if it manages to beat the iphone and become the best highly restricted one.

[akiwiguy]

I want to figure out a way to run the Openmoko UI on my Android phone. Screw the market, if I want stuff I will compile it myself tyvm.