Windows 7 ended its journey on January 14, 2020. But according to the Free Software Foundation its useful life does not necessarily have to stop there. A petition launched by the organization, born of Richard Stallman, asks Microsoft to make the operating system open source. A request that will fall on deaf ears, but that no longer appears as inconceivable as a few years ago.
The Free Software Foundation requests that Windows 7 be open source
The Free Software Foundation asks Microsoft to remedy what has been done in past years: "Windows 7 has reached its end of life, ending the updates as well as ten years of education poisoning, invasion of privacy and the threat to user safety. The end of the life cycle of Windows 7 gives Microsoft the perfect opportunity to remedy past mistakes and give new life [al sistema operativo]".
The Foundation is moving forward a request that will not be accepted by Microsoft. The reason is twofold: on the one hand, the fact that many of the technologies used in Windows 7 are covered by patents and it would be very difficult to guarantee its use in an open source Windows, while on the other side there is the fact that an open version of Windows 7 would compete heavily with Windows 10, purebred horse of Microsoft on which the company is continuing to invest.
The clear message that comes from the Foundation is however another: Microsoft has spent a lot on keeping a more open attitude towards open source software, but more facts are needed. Greater openness than current or recent past projects could confirm a real change in the company's policy and its way of doing business. However, Microsoft's commitment appears real, given the collaboration with historical realities of the open source world and one greater willingness to collaborate with open projects, including the Linux kernel itself.
There is also another fact to report: at the time of the launch of Windows 7 this request would not have found any kind of interest from anyone and would have seemed inconceivable. Nowadays, however, it appears impracticable from a practical point of view, but no longer inconceivable. It is not said, in fact, that Microsoft does not decide to make certain specific components of Windows 7 open source, as it has already started to do in the past. This greater openness has positive repercussions on the entire ecosystem, including that of companies that work with Microsoft software and develop for Windows.
Microsoft has yet to respond to the petition, available at this address.
