.NET Source available for Review - Apologies for the editorializing

Like everyone else, I heard the big news that Microsoft is going to make the source code of .NET available for review under one of their licenses.  I have already heard every extreme viewpoint on this, from "This is great, stupendous, awesome." to "This is the end of modern civilization."  I'd like to think about both of these scenarios for a moment.  This is not a complete set of thoughts, but its just the first couple of issues that popped into my head.

For the "This is great, stupendous, awesome" crowd.  This group seems to be of the opinion that getting access to any source is the best thing that can happen.  Yes, source is good.  I love source.  It lets me see how things are done.  It helps me learn.  It does not help me fix bugs in my application.  Ok, how many times have you found a bug in the shipping copy of the .NET framework 2.x and are you were worthy of fixing the bug?  Yes, I know about the bugs in 1.x, but I'm really more interested in the current generation.  While I have never met a developer that didn't think they were the best thing that ever walked the planet, the truth is that perhaps 1% (and that number may be high) are really capable of understanding why a bug in the framework is occurring and how to fix it so that it meets the needs of all users.  Sorry, but you aren't going to fix the bugs in the framework folks.

For the "This is the end of modern civilization crowd" get off of this anti-Microsoft bashing.   If you don't like the fact that MS is making available the source, don't use it.  If you are afraid of license violations, then don't use it.  If you just want to bash MS, get over it.  They are a company and they have a right to make money for their employees and shareholders.

For more discusion on this, head over to: http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/07/10/03/1626209.shtml

My personal opinion is that if this provides value for you, then use it.  If it doesn't provide value, then don't use it.