Microsoft Must Show Source
From Dan Gillmor’s Weblog

Reuters: Judge says Microsoft must give states Windows code. Microsoft had tried to argue that the states’ request for the code, made Tuesday, came too late before hearings due to begin next month on whether additional sanctions should apply to the company for violating U.S. antitrust laws.

The judge did the right thing. Microsoft insists that removing IE from Windows would irrevocably screw up the OS. Without access to the source, who can tell?

Microsoft could have made IE in a way that plugged into the operating system. It chose to mingle the code to ensure that IE was “an integral part” of the OS. Maybe we’ll find out, one of these days, how good a job the company did in its anticompetitive act.