I know brim will probably have a massive erection over this but :
Open-source fans can be a skeptical bunch, but I've seen their collective opinions shift--for example in the gradually diminishing loathing for Sun Microsystems as that company stopped deriding Linux and started moving its portfolio to open-source software.

So it's not a surprise that various representatives had a mixed reaction to Microsoft's move Thursday to share details of its technology with open-source programmers.

The move could make it easier for many projects to work well with Microsoft products and potentially replace them--for example for Thunderbird e-mail software could communicate better with Microsoft Exchange servers and also displace Microsoft Outlook on PCs. But Microsoft also made it clear that a pledge not to sue open-source programmers only applied in "non-commercial" contexts, so open-source fans didn't get everything they want.

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Might want to quote or put in parentheses the article you just copied and pasted.
Also a link might be nice.

I read that already somewhere today and I can't remember where......

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neither can I now

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This has only come about after several months of attack on open source from Ms using intellectual property as their weapon. It has proved ineffective.

What I saw as the biggest blow was Mark Shuttleworth (of Ubuntu fame) stating that he would remove all code from Ubuntu that infringed on Ms code base for Windows if they showed them the code in Windows source code.

He said that with the knowledge that Ms can't do this as they have stolen so much code from other companies for Windows such as Apple.

I also see this as Ms acceptance of the threat of Open Office and Lotus Symphony on the Ms Office product for home users and Ms trying to counter the increasing adoption of the Open Document Format by governments around the world.

I think the world is gradually escaping the hold of Ms monopoly. 5 years ago, I said that Ms monopoly would be broken by 2020 and that there would be a choice in the market. Note that I mean most users will probably still be using Windows but a worthwhile alternative will be place that will be usable by an average end user and will not require the terminal. In other words, I think Desktop Linux will be ready for average Joe by 2020 and will start to be adopted by companies/governments/people the same way Open Office is starting to be adopted at the moment.

At least I hope so. There is little point in continuing to use Ms Office and Windows if there are free alternatives that do just as good a job. I don't consider OSX to be a viable alternative as its locked to Apple hardware and that is worse than the Ms monopoly IMO, it just hasn't taken off as well for them as the Windows monopoly for Ms. The day Apple release OSX for all X86 manufacturers, is the day it will be a choice over windows.

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