Announcing the Open Sourcing of Windows Calculator for Windows 10

jimbo45 said:

Linux has had source code available for Donkeys years

Is their calculator better?

Is it better at adding up numbers? Or dividing? Is it faster or slower or more or less accurate?

And why do you bang on about Linux anyway - this is a Windows forum isn't it?

Hi there.
Not sure whether better or worse -- my point here was that OPENSOURCE has been offered for years so what's so special about it.
Personally a bit of open source on how to manage the file system etc or genuine methods of using API calls would be a bit more interesting than a bog standard calculator app.

Cheers
jimbo

I looked at the source of the calculator app on GitHub. It is full of API calls. In fact I couldn't even find how it does addition (although it is presumably API). More interesting is the shape and interaction of the app.

I think it is probably a good example albeit beyond me.

lx07 said:

Probably one.
Do you understand how open source works though?

jimbo45 said:

Also if people think open source open code can be stuffed full of malware - do they really understand what source code is -- have they ever written 1 line of code in their life !!!.

I must admit I am no authority on current programming practices or Open Source standards and practices; my last programming was done in MS-DOS batch and FORTRAN! And I do use open source software every day - LibreOffice is one of my favorites, along with many fine utilities produced by independent freeware programmers.

But if I were Microsoft, I would want everything I "shipped in Windows" to be written and tested "in house".
Just my 2 cents, though...

mta3006 said:

But if I were Microsoft, I would want everything I "shipped in Windows" to be written and tested "in house".
Just my 2 cents, though...

It is according to them tested in-house. A quote from the first post :

Calculator will continue to go through all usual testing, compliance, security, quality processes, and Insider flighting, just as we do for our other applications. You can learn more about these details in our documentation on GitHub.

They can of course also deny any PR if they want.

Now I did download the source but after 15 minutes realized I couldn't understand how it fits together at all.

If I wanted to understand the recommended procedure then looking at a simple app like a calculator would surely be a good way of doing it, but my curiosity didn't take me further than looking at random source files in notepad++...

Superfly said:

Open is much safer .. the fact that MS has gone GitHub and Linux speaks volumes for their need to be more transparent... it makes for a safer Windows environment.. so be comforted

I tried to propose a change Linux kernel to support an old Radeon X1600 GPU (just to read from a .bin if it existed). They told me not that politely they weren't interested.

What I learned from that is opensource requires considerable effort on part of maintainers (to check and refuse changes).

Where my changes safe? Probably - I still compile my kernel with it included. Were they generally useful? Probably not.

lx07 said:

It is according to them tested in-house....

Superfly said:

Open is much safer .. the fact that MS has gone GitHub and Linux speaks volumes for their need to be more transparent... it makes for a safer Windows environment.. so be comforted

Thanks for the response - after much more thought on the matter, I guess I have had more overall trouble and aggravation in dealing with Microsoft products than with the many well-recommended open source products I have used....

I stand comforted.

mta3006 said:

Thanks for the response - after much more thought on the matter, I guess I have had more overall trouble and aggravation in dealing with Microsoft products than with the many well-recommended open source products I have used....

I stand comforted.

I was never concerned about it being open sourced. I know that's far more safe and transparent than closed sourced. What I'm confused about is why they are making the calculator open source and making it appear to be the biggest deal of this year?