One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. -Ecclesiastes 1:5-6
Apple released Mac OS X in 1999, using a BSD core and embracing many libraries and utilities of the open source world. This excited open source advocates, and appeared a step in the right direction compared to Microsoft’s strict licensing and Sun’s Java licensing.
Here we stand today, and the Apple iPhone is one of the most locked-down computers around. Make no mistake, the iPhone is a computer. Sun has open-sourced Solaris and Java. Let’s not overstate the Microsoft moves, but they have made moves to interoperate with open source libraries, and are releasing source of many new products on codeplex. Windows is still locked down, office docs in strict formats, and the open source stuff is in a whacky license. But it’s a start.
What will the next 10 years bring?