The analogy isn't perfect, as fixing bugs in software is much harder than picking up bits of glass on a beach. Bug fixes have to be stress tested as well as tested for compatibility with the thousands of other pieces of software which might use it. The analogy is apt, however, in that it reveals the information power of millions of disparate users. Microsoft isn't asking anyone to pull that abandoned land mine out of the sand. They are just making it easier for their customers to identify it when they see it.
That's a win-win situation. Customers, who are the most likely people to find bugs as they are the real world to Microsoft's laboratory, can find errors in a manner that makes it easy for Microsoft to fix them. In return, they then get a more bulletproof product in shorter timeframes, absolved of the responsibility of doing all the things it takes to make a real bug fix. That's an improved version of the division of labor contract businesses make when they buy proprietary software.
Parting thoughts
People are instinctively uncharitable when Microsoft does anything, even if that something is right. As a certain Carl Rapson noted in a recent ZDNet Talkback post,
The 'true religion' states that everything Microsoft does is bad and everything anyone else does (even if it's the same thing Microsoft did) is good.
Come on, people. Even if you are one of those individuals who believes that anything less than a GPL licence is tantamount to armed robbery, Microsoft efforts to release more source code is clearly a step in the right direction. Granted, they are steps made by a proprietary software company, but surely you didn't expect them to be the same steps the Free Software Foundation might have made?
I'm hoping Microsoft opts to move towards something approaching the Windows CE licensing model. Even if they don't, though, Microsoft deciding to release ANY source code is good for developers and a product millions rely on for their business.
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