Re:Lotsa sizzle, little steak (Score 1)

Obviously, you can buy Windows if you like, but then you've paid twice for access to the technology (you paid through your taxes, remember).

You forget, some of the taxes that Microsoft paid went into funding that research as well. Also, what happens if the software is a huge hit and makes MS another ton of cash? More taxes to fund more research. And they'll pay a heck of a lot more in taxes than you will. A possible alternative is that MS decides not to include the product and the majority of the world doesn't use it. (Why download something you don't really need? Most people are content with email and surfing now.) How effective were those tax dollars spent on research to provide a benefit to only a small number of people? The network effects on the economy and society of releasing it in a proprietary-friendly format far outweigh any GPL-only distribution. They could release it in multiple formats and please more people though.