Windows founder Bill Gates has launched the source code of an early project, which is a rare act from him. This kind of initiative is expected to hold some information on the early years of Microsoft’s software development which could be useful to coders and history enthusiasts. This decision has drawn attention to software transparency and contributions regarding open source repositories.

Highlights:

• Bill Gates has made early Microsoft source code publicly available.
• The release sheds light on Microsoft's early programming practices.
• Industry experts see this as a major step toward software transparency.
• Developers and researchers now have access to historically significant code
• The move sparks conversations about the future of proprietary software.

Microsoft’s move to release code has major ramifications because: It offers the reader an insight on some of the coding practices used in the company when it was relatively young. Overall, Gates’ action of providing the code for free contributes to the openness of the software and sharing of knowledge. It will also create debate as to how open-sourcing affects the evolution of the computing software of today.

The developer community has received the release very warmly especially those who are interested in the history of computing. Most view it as a history lesson where one can learn Microsoft’s initial approach to development of its platform. While there are those who have remained of the opinion that proprietary software must maintain their closed nature, there are common ideas that this liberality will increase the number of innovative developments and cooperation between the companies of the IT sector.

With this release Microsoft is establishing a new trend for software companies to reveal such bugs to the public. Some of the things which it entails are, It seeks to encourage other giant technology firms to open some of the earlier codes ever developed. While such a decision is beneficial for Gates, it may have a positive side effect of making the industry more open in the future for the developers or researchers who want to continue the work on the industry ancestors.