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back to article OPEN WIDE: Microsoft Live Writer authoring tool going open source

Microsoft will release its blog authoring tool, Live Writer, as open source, according to a tweet from developer evangelist Scott Hanselman. The goal of Live Writer was to make it easy to author blog posts while working offline in Windows. The editor is based on embedded Internet Explorer, and despite that handicap the tool …

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  1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    What licence?

    Microsoft have made source code available before, with a license that said something like: "If you could have seen this source code, and you ever make money out of software in future, Microsoft can sue you for copyright infringement. Something in that source code will bear some remote resemblance to something you are selling, so you must have stolen they idea from Microsoft."

    'Open source' is about as definitive as 'real soon now'. It could be anything from GPL to blatant trap.

    9 15 Reply
    1. Ragarath
      Reply Icon

      Re: What licence?

      'Open source' is about as definitive as 'real soon now'. It could be anything from GPL to blatant trap.

      So you go straight to 'Trap' without waiting to see what occurs rather than actually looking at the direction Microsoft do seem to be taking now-a-days?

      10 9 Reply
      1. hplasm
        Reply Icon
        Meh

        Re: What licence?

        "So you go straight to 'Trap' without waiting to see what occurs rather than actually looking at the direction Microsoft do seem to be taking now-a-days?"

        Safest bet.

        10 8 Reply
      2. DanDanDan
        Reply Icon

        Re: What licence?

        So you go straight to 'Trap' without waiting to see what occurs rather than actually looking at the direction Microsoft do seem to be taking now-a-days?

        Implying that Microsoft has a direction now-a-days. roflcopter

        5 6 Reply
      3. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What licence?

        > looking at the direction Microsoft do seem to be taking now-a-days?

        Momentarily and under the current (unproven) CEO. A lot of momentum remains behind MS's anit-freedom and bullying ways (cite: patent shakedowns) and it's going to take more than a few empty words for people to remotely consider that this snake has changed its scales.

        8 6 Reply
      4. nematoad
        Reply Icon

        Re: What licence?

        A couple of sayings come to mind with your comment.

        "Give a dog a bad name..." and "As ye sow so shall ye reap."

        MS has only itself to blame if people regard their offers with suspicion. They have behaved in a predatory, unethical and criminal manner too many times in the past to be taken at their word. We'll see but don't expect great cries of welcome from those who have been victims of MS's past behaviour

        13 5 Reply
      5. Flocke Kroes Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        @Ragarath

        I went straight to asking 'What licence?'. It is possible you might have gently ambled to a conclusion about what I was expecting without a shred of evidence.

        1 1 Reply
    2. Uffe Seerup
      Reply Icon

      Re: What licence?

      > Microsoft have made source code available before, with a license that said something like: "If you could have seen this source code, and you ever make money out of software in future, Microsoft can sue you for copyright infringement.

      In the past Microsoft has released some source code under a *shared* source license. Maybe that's what you are thinking of. That is not *open* source, however, and Microsoft has never used the term "open source" to describe the shared source license.

      Microsoft has been on a roll lately releasing products as *open* source. Each and every time Microsoft has said *open* source it has been an OSI approved license, usually MIT, Apache or MS-PL. Yes, MS-PL is also OSI approved.

      4 0 Reply
  2. Hans 1
    Windows

    Trojan

    >Live Writer became part of an optional download bundle called Windows Live Essentials and was never much promoted. Users had to know where to find it, as well as working out how to install it without getting all sorts of other unwanted software and settings.

    In other words, the software was distributed bundled with a Trojan Horse, home-page and search engine hijackers. Great!

    1 4 Reply

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