PT Contrary to popular myth, Microsoft doesn't hate everything about open source. While Microsoft executives publicly vacillate between declaring Linux either the most hyped operating system or the biggest threat to Windows, in reality, the company has learned some powerful lessons from its open-source competitors.
Source code is the set of underlying programming instructions that comprise an operating system.
In general, open source refers to software such as the Linux operating system that allows programs to be modified by consumers. Microsoft has licensed elements of the Windows source code to less than 100 software and hardware developers working closely with the software giant on evolving the operating system, according to sources close to Microsoft. The company also has licensed the Windows source code to universities and government bodies under restrictive terms that allow them to work with the code but not make changes to it. Davis said that during the remedy phase of the Department of Justice's antitrust trial against the software giant, Microsoft fought suggestions that it be required to share Windows source code with any kind of neutral third-party licensing body. Microsoft is not going so far as to allow its customers to tamper with the Windows source, Miller emphasized.