Whoa! Company executive says that the Redmond based technology giant could make Windows open source in the near future, and offer the code free of charge to everyone.
Quite a turnaround from a company considered against the concept of open source software.

A change like this would revamp the Windows platform from the inside out, even if it will be an attempt to slow the ascension of open source solutions like Linux and Android. And more importantly, even if Microsoft opts to release the Windows code out in the open, it will be a gradual process.

Something that might take years to complete.

But a move like this is certainly on the cards, according to Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich speaking to the audience at the ChefCon conference:
“It’s definitely possible. It’s a new Microsoft.
Every conversation you can imagine about what should we do with our software – open versus not-open versus services – has happened.”
In fact, Russinovich explains that the first steps towards making Windows open source were already taken earlier this year, when the company open up its .NET platform and made the code available freely to everyone:
“It lifts them up and makes them available for our other offerings, where otherwise they might not be. If they’re using Linux technologies that we can’t play with, they can’t be a customer of ours.”
Obviously, a move like this would have been unthinkable in the time of former CEO Steve Ballmer, but with Satya Nadella in charge, there is at least a chance of this happening.
Remote, but a chance, nevertheless.

Microsoft will still make money on Windows, as the software titan would have to keep business and enterprise computers worldwide, and companies will pay for these updates, with Microsoft being the sole provider of these patches and feature update.

Interesting times ahead!