The advantages of the Open Source Model

Microsoft recently had to release some emergency updates to its Internet Explorer product due to a simple typo in the source code. At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not dedicated to excellence in all of its forms, and while we are not saying the Microsoft hasn't produced some good software, we would like to point out that excellence is thwarted when the source remains closed. If Microsoft used the Open Source model, the world would have known about this exploit much sooner, and of course they would have made better use of the exploit before someone at Microsoft actually fixed it and rolled out an update.