Scott Guthrie announced today that Microsoft is opening up the source code for the .NET Framework library with the release of the .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 later this year. Microsoft will begin by offering the source code (with source file comments included) for the .NET Base Class Libraries (System, System.IO, System.Collections, System.Configuration, System.Threading, System.Net, System.Security, System.Runtime, System.Text, etc), ASP.NET (System.Web), Windows Forms (System.Windows.Forms), ADO.NET (System.Data), XML (System.Xml), and WPF (System.Windows).  It will then be adding more libraries in the months ahead (including WCF, Workflow, and LINQ).  The source code will be released under the Microsoft Reference License (MS-RL).

Source: Scott Guthrie

That definitely is a very good news for Microsoft. Even with some resistance from many corporate clients to not jump into Vista right away (looks like they are happy with Windows XP) Microsoft did exceptionally well in meeting its expectations. On July 26, at the Financial Analysts Meeting, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner told attendees,

With Vista, “We’ve eclipsed the entire Apple installed base in the first five months of sales”

That will surely invite some Apple fans into the discussion. Turner also shared some interesting statistics about Windows Vista,

• 2.1 million devices now work with Vista
• More than 11,000 Vista-logo’d devices are now on the market
• 2,000 applications now have earned the Windows Vista logos
• More than 70 business-focused enterprise applications have been made Vista-compatible since the product launched in late January
• More than 42 million Vista seats are now covered under volume licensing deals. (However, “Windows Volume Licensing annuity penetration” is only at 19 percent currently, Turner admitted. Microsoft is pushing hard to grow this number, he said.)
• Over the next three years, Microsoft expects more than half of Windows PC unit growth to come from emerging markets.

Source: Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet

According to Steve Balmer, Microsoft CEO, Microsoft Windows installed base will hit a BILLION mark by the end of June 2008 (fiscal year for Microsoft).

Source: Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet

Vista SP1 and XP SP3 are in the works. Ryan from CNT mentions that many of his sources confirmed about Vista SP1 and XP SP3 in works. Even though there aren’t that many information regarding Vista SP1 there are some information about XP SP3. It is of roughly 350 MB size. It includes over 900 fixes for the operating system. Many of those fixes are updated thru your Windows Update but still there are quite a few fixes that justifies XP SP3.

Source: CNT