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There is absolutely a reason for them to simply say "yes, we have legal rights to the source". It's a burning question that has been biting Zeta in the proverbial ass for quite some time now, nobody trusted yT (well, very few did) and it's showing again with Magnussoft. You saw how well yT did. Nobody is asking them to give all the terms.

I like your insults at the end there, but let me humor you. Me being the "clueless" person I am - I'm going to make a prediction. In two years or less, Magnussoft will be gone. Just like yT, except this time the cohorts won't be reforming under a new name. Zeta will cease to exist. It's already just about irrelevant. Some cool things come out of it from time to time (pthreads for instance) but with all the secrecy, and all the distrust, it's not going anywhere as a company. You blame it on whatever you'd like, strange licensing agreements which prohibit them from simply saying they have source (what in the heck did yT/MS sign??? Sounds like a deal with the devil...) I've dealt with restrictive licensing before, but nothing like what you claim to be the case. It sounds like there are terms restricting a lot, if they can't even confirm source rights. It's just one more reason for people to worry (and it's quite obvious they do.)

Again, I wish MS the best of luck, but unless they change something radically with how the company is run, and help get rid of the public perception they currently have (including all the unknowns) they are going nowhere. Haiku is well on it's way as it is - and people don't have to "wonder" about it. I don't know how many companies you've run, but when anybody has uncertainties about your product/services, and you don't get rid of them, you fail. If the licensing is that insane, then they dug their own grave before they started. Would have been better to not even aquire the license in the first place, and just be a commercial support company for Haiku (which, btw, is what it looks like they intend on doing once Haiku matures, and ditching Zeta.)