[CyberRabbi]

The model you are suggesting works to some extent but it just isn’t as effective or efficient as the Microsoft model. Compare the usability and the prevalence of the Linux desktop (mostly advanced by red hat) to the Windows desktop.

In any case people are already free to build projects collaboratively and the GPL provides a workable legal platform for that model. Microsoft has opted out of that model and it’s their right to do so, it’s no one else’s right to force them into it. If people want to build a retro modded Windows XP compatible experience, the law fully allows them to reverse engineer and reimplement it. They are better off basing their work on something like ReactOS, which has already done lots of that work, instead of Microsoft’s IP.