Windows 7 Diagnosed with Cancer

As I read this news article about a downloadable tool for Windows 7 being "infected" with open source code, I could not help but recall the boisterous statements by Steve Ballmer during the uprising of Linux popularity in the early part of this decade. Ballmer proclaimed Linux and open source to be a "cancer" that would eat away at all that is good in the software industry. Not only the industry, but capitalism itself was at risk due to the contagious and destructive nature of this new approach to software distribution.

I suppose it is now time to begin the radiation and chemo treatments on the Redmond patient. The first tumor has been discovered, and no doubt there are others awaiting detection. As they are discovered, my guess is that the treatment will be far more damaging to the patient than the disease itself. Once you are infected with the potential of open source as a short cut to a better customer experience, paying full price on every line of code becomes challenging. Even for a patient that can spend as heavily as Microsoft on disease treatment.