Microsoft has made the source code of its Windows CE 3.0 embedded operating system available to developers in a bid to compete with the "open source" software development model. Open source software, such as Linux, typically allows users to modify the underlying code to suit their own needs, and to re-distribute the altered software, as long as the changes are made available freely to the development community. Microsoft, which has compared some open-source licences to a cancer, is championing its own "Shared Source License". This allows developers to change its source code, but not to distribute the altered code for commercial purposes. Microsoft released the code, with the new Shared Source License, on Friday. It is available on the company's Web site and the code can be accessed through an evaluation or full version of the Platform Builder development tool.
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