--- 
canonical: 'https://mwop.net/blog/33-B.-Gates-Open-Source-Programmer.html'
title: 'B. Gates: Open Source Programmer?'
author: "[Matthew Weier O'Phinney](https://mwop.net)"
created: '2004-03-29T13:02:16-06:00'
updated: '2004-09-20T13:52:48-05:00'
tags:
  - linux
  - personal
  - programming

---
I just read [coverage of a panel of programming luminaries on Salon](http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2004/03/19/programmers_at_work/);
the topic of discussion was about the state of programming. In the course of the
discussion, the subject of Open Source came up. Several of the luminaries —
which included architects of the Mac OS and Windows, as well as others — derided
the community for basically reinventing the wheel, and wheels that need to be
re-thought entirely anyways. One questioned, "Why is the idealism just about how
the code is shared — what about idealism about the code itself?"

Andy Hertzfeld (who helped develop the original Mac OS) was sitting on the
panel, and jumped in. He has been working with Eazel and Chandler in recent
years, and thus has an inside view of open source. His initial comment: "It's
because they want people to use the stuff!" Basically, they program Windows- or
Mac-like interfaces because then people will be willing to try it out. They
program office suites because people "need" an office suite to be productive.
Such offerings hook them into the OSS movement.

Another participant, Dan Bricklin (of VisiCalc, a pioneering spreadsheet
program) shared an anecdote from Bill Gates. Evidently, Gates gave an interview
(with Lammers — look up this person) in which he explained that his work on MS's
BASIC compiler was done by looking at how other programmers had accomplished the
task. In his own words, "The best way to prepare is to write programs, and to
study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the
garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their
operating systems."

So basically, Gates was an early adopter of OSS methodologies… Interesting to
see that today he's so protective of MS code. Guess money might do that to you.