[pchelpers] Microsoft Opens Up

The FFFFFFs (Flipped-out FireFox Fanatics From Finland) and other 
advocates of open source programs are waiting to see if and when 
Microsoft fans will show their gratitude to open source advocates 
and vocal critics of Microsoft for forcing the near-monopoly to 
improve its products and its ways:

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1732706,00.asp

Unhappy Microsoft customers have a funny way of becoming Linux, 
Salesforce.com and Oracle customers. Begrudgingly, Microsoft has 
come to grips with this reality.

Sure, we're not talking open-source-like transparency, where the 
community of contributors plays a major role in developing and 
delivering on ship-date promises. But over the past year, 
Microsoft admittedly borrowed more than a few pages from the 
open-source play book. It began providing more frequent beta 
drops to a wider community of testers (under its "Community 
Technical Preview" flag). And in 2004, it even made the source 
code available under a bona fide open-source license (the CPL) 
for a few of its technologies. And it is creating new customer 
and tester feedback channels, like the MSDN Product Center, the 
more than 1,000 employee blogs, Microsoft Channel 9 and the 
forthcoming "Zephyr," to give customers a more direct channel 
into Microsoft.

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