I believe Microsoft is going to switch to OpenSource to survive in the technology business. I have been telling that to my peers for a long time. Today I saw this article that indicates so as well.
From what I have been reading in technology blogs and specially the book Cathedral and Bazzar by Eric Raymonds I can clearly understand that, to get a quality product (secure and error free) you need to make it opensource. It not only allows millions of people around the world to appreciate your code. But it also help finding possible exploits by those users and help in optimizing it.
Why would someone with right business mind give up such an offer? I would not.
Imagine if TCP/IP protocol were closed source, would you be able to browse the internet without signing away your first born child? You probably could, but you got my point. By keeping this protocol opensource not only we are benefiting from the unlimited source of knowledge, good and bad just like real world, but also making the world a better place. How so? In so many different ways; starting from the news of the world real time with a click of a button, to sharing journals with your loved ones, while staying a whole world away from each other.
Opensource is not about just the quality and security of a product but it also has a moral factor. It offers you the freedom to look inside the application, look at the source code. I understand may be you, like me, do not care or have the knowledge or time to follow the code and make changes. BUT, and yes that is a huge but, opensource gives you the option, the freedom, to look inside the code should you choose to do so.
Why would a company decides your right to look into a application code, when you are already the paid owner of your copy? Would you allow the same thing for your car? If a car company tell you that you are not allowed to open the hood of your car, would you then buy it? Exactly, I thought so too.
It seems like Microsoft can tell us what to do and we are just giving in to that. I do not think that is what you want and yes Microsoft is acknowledging that trend. Microsoft is also realizing the other benefits of going with Opensource, they are security and quality.
So, as I mentioned at the beginning, I think Microsoft is moving towards Opensource. Here is an opensource page from microsoft’s own website. I also believe that if Microsoft decides not to opensource their OS code they will expire in 10 years. I have not yet come up with a mathematical model with strong probability theory to explain the number 10. Lets hope I don’t have to. Now do I? 
