Gates: Microsoft made Open Source possible

From SeattleTimes: “Gates said there’s a role for free software alongside commercial software, but the open-source
movement taken to its extreme would mean no software jobs or taxes paid by software
companies, and it would mean companies such as Microsoft would not risk investing in advanced
products.

Gates also took some credit for the genesis of open-source software. He said Microsoft made it
possible by standardizing computers: “Really, the reason you see open source there at all is
because we came in and said there should be a platform that’s identical with millions and millions
of machines,” he said.”