Updating MSKLC (part 6) for the sake of Open source or Open sources?

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2015/06/17 15:06 +00:00, original URI: http://www.siao2.com/2015/06/17/8770668856267196503.aspx

As the years were progressing and I felt my lack of progress on bringing this MSKLC (Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator) project forward, and the health problems that I was having and in fact continue to have combined with the feeling that I was maybe getting in the way myself without inspiring others to involve themselves in the project made me wonder if I should push the whole thing in a slightly different direction.

There were other forces within Microsoft that were moving in the direction of open source and shared source and open sources and I (privately, but somewhat loudly) wondered whether part of or parts of MSKLC itself could be made into open source so that another large group of interested stakeholders could have the chance to use their influence and expertise and authority and interest to bring the project forward in ways that I could never have done on my own but I could at least influence later on somehow or other.

Now this is uncertain territory for me and I wasn't sure what might happen entirely, but with the entire world changing it seemed and dare say seems like this might be the best time to ride the wave of open source software to push things towards the finish line.

Perhaps my own personal set of brushes with my own personal mortality and the mortality of others I know and knew around me was pushing me a little bit too, but I wanted and want and will continue to want for MSKLC to be able to continue to succeed.

What better way to prove to the others that it isn't all about me than to make sure that it isn't all about me at all? ;-)

Do you think there is a reasonable chance we should see this within our lifetimes? The issue I see is that open sourcing something that requires a tool chain of its own (unless you implement that on your own) will create additional problems. Also, the way the tool chain and everything in MSKLC 1.4 was put together (mixed versions, unsigned binaries, some seemingly unused tool: addsect.exe) and - I think I remember - your remark that the whole thing wasn't part of the source tree. That along with all the issues you outlined in this series makes me think that the chance for open sourcing it are slim at best.

The versions were based on checked in binaries un the Windows source tree when the tool was released, and we were told by higher ups in the developer division that as long as the package is signed, individual binaries didn't have to be. If they were wrong, they would have fixed it before millions of downloads! ;-)

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