Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Opens Code Just Slightly More

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the if-you're-a-king-you-can-see-part-of-it dept.

ctar writes "This story on Bloomberg.com details Microsoft's new program to open the source to parts of Windows in order to compete with Linux, especially in the government sector. Microsoft's spokesman is making these announcements directly: They say governments involved will be invited to Redmond to meet w/ security engineers, and view testing procedures. Countries will also be able to incorporate their own encryption schemes 'based on Microsoft's software'."

17 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. One Question by The_Shadows · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why does the government need the source? I mean seriously, it's not like knowing how MS wrote their version of solitaire is going to help much.....

    Sheesh. :)

    1. Re:One Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      I know your comment was meant to be funny, but as a government employee I have to say that I'd like to see the source of sol.exe (Solitare). I think it's coded in a way that you CANNOT win twice in a row. And it seems to degrade as you play it more without stopping.

      I just want to know if this was on purpose or if the Windows may have started to not only develop intelligence but decide to gang up with my boss against me.

    2. Re:One Question by Tony-A · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is that it's the source Microsoft wants me to see when Microsoft wants me to see it. The advantage of Open Source is that I get to look at whatever I want to look at, whenever I want to look at it, and for whatever lame/stupid/paranoid reason or lack of reason I choose.
      Now I don't really know what to look for, so if *I* don't see anything wrong, it doesn't mean all that much. But. There are people who do, and people who are paranoid, and people who will scream their heads off if there is *anything* suspicious, particularly anthing that *should* be there but isn't.
      What Microsoft is doing will help. A little. But there are too many ways that what I'm seeing is a *sanitized* version of the source, that I'd still be more than a little bit suspicious.

  2. I can't see how this is good by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Informative
    While I would personally love to see some of the Windows code (I'd kill for a peek at the COM+ marshaling engine) I can't see how this is going to help anyone. it's not like you can find a bug and recompile the kernel, and I've always had a bit of reservation against providing Microsoft with solutions to problems in their own products. The MTS/IIS4 timeframe left me pretty much soured on that whole thing.

    Still, if they're going to open up stuff I'd say let me look at IIS, MSMQ, WMI, COM+ and all that other middleware that I tend to hit a lot more... looking at the kernel would be an educational trip - but only that. Not really useful per se.

  3. safari publicity kill? by solferino · · Score: 5, Interesting

    i'd just been reading coverage on apple's new safari browser and thinking how it was a significant 'hit' against microsoft internet explorer strategies as the boost given to 'the other' free software rendering engine (khtml) has now made complying to web-standards that much more important

    wondering how this release was impacting microsoft's share price i went over to yahoo finance and was bemused to see that it was slightly up - and then noticed the links to news stories lower on the page detailing microsofts announcement

    i can't help wonder if the announcement was timed to take some attention away from the extremely significant move by apple to move it's sizable number of users from a proprietary based browser to one at least based upon a free software engine
    - microsoft must have worked out what was in the works some time ago (the project has been a year in dev) and macworld would be the obvious announcement time

    i'll let others analyse and discuss the significance of this move by microsoft - and by the way i agree with those who contend that microsoft is not 'the enemy' and that as longer as we keep true to our values and keep doing what we have been doing all will continue to be well in free software land, and ripples from the movement will continue to spread through the software world from our activity whether we plan to make a splash or not

    - but watching microsoft sure is great soap opera :)

    p.s. i have been using the term 'free software' in the above post but am unsure of the exact license that khtml is under (i searched and couldn't find the info) - anyone who knows?

  4. Re:Something to Think About by IntlHarvester · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft might not realize it yet, but it's only a matter of time before Windows sourcecode is Open (as in VMS - read only).

    Really, what have they got to lose? Windows is already pirated like crazy, and they arguably have a better core system than any of their competitors anyway. Why not counter Linus Hype with a litte Dave Cutler?

    They've already run through their shared source program with various universities and no dirty laundry leaked out. Having published source never hurt IBM or DEC. They should do it.

    --
    Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
  5. Showing the code not enough by Milo77 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The reason many people think open source software should be used in gov't is so contractors can't sell closed sourced solutions to the gov't that would require the gov't to go back to the original contractor everytime a change is needed. In other words, it is more cost-effective from the tax payer's point of view. If the code modifications can be made in house or there is a lower bidder this is better for the taxpayer (cost wise). Nothing MS will ever do will allow a gov't to do this. They may let you "see" some of the code and perhaps allow for encryption plugins (or what have you), but they'll never provide a license that says "this code is yours, feel free to make your own modifications."

  6. And during those visits to Redmond... by djupedal · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...anyone drinking the water that is placed on the tables in the conference rooms should know that it will take 9 to 12 months for the effects of the spiking to wear off :)

    By that time, contracts will have been signed and monies moved about according to MS's will.

  7. the problem is dependency by g4dget · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Sorry, but that won't do. It's fine for governments to buy products where they can switch vendors fairly easily. It's also fine for governments to use software that's open source.

    But when governments start using Windows, they are tied to the business decisions and future of a single company: they can't buy any substitutes and the license doesn't permit them to hire others to modify the code and redistribute the modifications. Even if Microsoft published the complete source code on the Internet, customers would still be completely at the mercy of Microsoft's business decisions because of the license. Incidentally, it's not just Microsoft: Sun is trying to navigate itself into the same position with Java, because, ultimately, all usable Java2 implementations have large chunks of code licensed from them.

    Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the only systems governments should rely on are systems with open, non-proprietary standards. They don't have to be open source if there are multiple, reasonably interchangeable implementations. If they are open source, even better. Becoming dependent on a single vendor for anything is bad enough for a business, but for a government, it is really dangerous.

  8. Snazzy by houseofmore · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Countries will also be able to incorporate their own encryption schemes 'based on Microsoft's software'."

    I'm sure governments around the world will breath a sigh of relief once their networks have been secured by MS Wallet(tm).

  9. Re:Microsoft is missing an entire dimension... by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 5, Funny

    M$ seems to not understand that viewing the source is only one third of the Open Source equation. The other half is being able to modify the code, and distribute those modifications.

    Judging by your math, I'm going to say you are related to Yogi Berra somehow. ;)

    (For the humor impaired, yes I realized what he intended to say.)

  10. Reminds me of a joke by stox · · Score: 5, Funny

    We used to have at Bell Labs in the late 1980's. If we ever wanted to put one of our competitors out of business, we would send them a copy of the 5ESS source code. They would go bankrupt trying to analyze it.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  11. RE: Your .sig by Zordak · · Score: 5, Funny
    OT, but your .sig made me think of something that occurred to me recently. It was stupid of Darth Sidious to clone an obviously incompetent adult to make Storm Troopers and them arm them with blasters they were ill-equipped to handle. As the parent of a 2 year old, I posit that a massive army of toddlers armed with Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, Pancake Syrup and Magic Markers would be a force that would rival Nature herself in pure destructive power. It would have taken this terrible, unholy army approximately ten minutes to dismantle the entire fleet of ships that Storm Troopers were trying to blast apart in AoTC. Most of the ships, operating under crippled, gummed-up guidance systems that have been reprogrammed to point to the nearest black hole, with controls that stick in all the wrong places, and terminals impossible to read for all of the random black markings, would simply crash into each other, with the captains of said ships welcoming the sweet deliverance of death. The rest would get hopelessly lost in the depths of space, and by the time anyone found them, the crews would be incurably mad.

    In case you are wondering, yes, having a two year old is occasionally associated with sleep deprivation. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Microsoft bashing.

    --

    Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
  12. Re:Something to Think About by Raul654 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Uh, because most (probably close to 95%) of Microsoft's income is from exactly 2 programs -- Windows and Office. Microsoft gets about $40 for every copy of windows that comes preinstalled. They would have to be INSANE to give up that revinue stream. What can the open source community offer them that compares to that? Anyone who proposed such a thing would be fired so fast their ass would make skid marks across the M$ parking lot.

    --


    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  13. Re:Something to Think About by Oestergaard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The developers are not to blame, we just did our jobs...

    A soldier is not without guilt.

    It even seems that you agree, given that you found quitting was the only honorable thing to do. Cool :)

  14. Source code is just a bunch of words by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Until it's compiled. Not that I'm saying that Microsoft are a bunch of lying, cheating weasels. I don't have to say that, a couple of courts have done it for me.

    Given that, and given the "other arrangement" that the US gubmint has to access the source (note "the" source, not "some" source), I would have no confidence that anything shown to me by Microsoft - in a Microsoft lab, controlled by them, not available for tinkering or compiling - actually represented the source used to build the version of Windows that I was deploying across my home nation of Elbonia.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  15. Re:Something to Think About by technix4beos · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here is the relevant link as reported by CNet:
    http://news.com.com/2100-1001-966219.html?tag=rn

    Here is Microsoft's SEC Filing:
    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789019/0001 03221002001614/d10q.htm

    Quite easy to find:
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/17/203722 3&mode=nested&tid=109

    By the way, someone posted about Microsoft opening source code to India.. Slashdot had an earlier story here:
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/12/204625 5&mode=nested&tid=109

    Another slashdot article on the XBox losing money:
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/15/151923 4&mode=nested&tid=109

    Amazing what turns up when you do just a little bit of research. ;)

    --
    user@host$ diff /dev/urandom /dev/uspto