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Microsoft Source Follow-Up
shystershep writes "It's official. Microsoft admits that 'portions of the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 source code were illegally made available on the Internet.' No more details, although it seems clear that it is only a portion of the code. Microsoft is, naturally, downplaying its impact, while everyone else is busy speculating about how serious this could get." A lot of you apparently haven't read yesterday's story. An investigation of the code is already underway.
formerly long-time Redmond partner Mainsoft.
References to MainWin can also be found throughout the leaked source files, which do not compile into a usable form of Windows.
I don't think any code can claim this, no matter M$ says
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
Now that the source code to Paint is out there, we can expect many derivative works to surface in the coming months. The impact on the graphics software market will be devestating.
One bad monkey spoils the whole barrel.
"It is not clear at this point how the three and a half year-old source code escaped Mainsoft."
You know.. It's simple: code wants to be free
>The leaked code includes 30,915 files and was apparently removed from a Linux computer used by Mainsoft for development purposes.
I wonder what Linux security hole allowed that to happen.
LAUGH, ITS A JOKE.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Current favourite, the author of MyDoom, but many youngsters are looking to make their mark in this prestigious contest
Grab a beer, sit back, and enjoy this great sporting occassion - sponsored by Microsoft, Security Through Obscurity.
"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments." Earl Wilson
I can't wait for the Windows 2000 Phantom Edit version
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Sure, it's only 15% of the code... but the only missing component is Internet Explorer.
Has anyone actually built this code?
/dev/null, where it will be undone, and we will be kept safe from the Lawyers of Evil.
Gandalf: No! Don't ever use it!
Frodo: How do we know it's source to the One OS of the Dark Lord?
Gandalf tosses a CD-R into the burner, and burns Windows.Source.Code.w2k.nt4.wxp.tar onto it. When the CD is done, there are glowing fiery letters on it.
Frodo : I can't read the fiery letters.
Gandalf : There are few who can. The language is that of Redmond, which I will not utter here. In the common tongue, it says "One OS To Rule Them All, One OS To Find Them, One OS To Bring Them All And With The NDA Bind Them"
Frodo: Take the source code Gandalf!
Gandalf : Noo! Do not tempt me with it! I dare not take it! Not even to keep it safe! You must understand Frodo, that I would be tempted to use this source code, for good. To disclose hidden API's, help the WINE project. But through me, all of open source would be tainted, and the LawyerWraiths of The Dark Lord will sure destroy us.
Frodo : But it cannot stay here!
Gandalf : No, no it can't.
Frodo : What must I do?
Gandalf : It must be sent to the fires of
So remember folks, don't download it, or look at it, or attempt to build it! It is evil, and answers only to the hand of The Dark One.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
Haha! How about 'Evil Worm Which Exploits Security Holes We Deny Exist Distributes Code'
Nah, I can't see them fessing up to something like that.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I did. 200 megs of compressed source, 22 hours of compiling, and all I got was "Notepad.exe"
The Winsock API is included in the leaked source that's something fantastic hahaha.
Even better, all of the rendering engine and interface code for Internet Explorer is in the leaked source.
NO CARRIER
You're lucky. You've got yourself a half decent text editor there. Imagine if you'd taken 200 gigs of compressed source, 22 days of compiling, and found that you only ended up with emacs.
I want someone to change de Blue Screen of Death by a Red Screen that says "Switch to Linux!"
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
> Actually, it's supposedly only 15% of the source code.
They'll be in trouble, if it's the 15% that works.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Heck just go for it and make it part of KDE and Gnome !
[ I unintentionally posted as an AC first - hopefully it's interesting enough that I get more interesting mods than redundant.]
In a related story, Linus Torvalds was forced to announce today that the source code for the Linux operating system was made public on the Internet.
"We're not sure how it was leaked. What's up there certainly looks legitimate, and we've had some reports that some of it even compiles. It appears it may have been leaked back in August, 1991, originally to an FTP server in Finland."
There are at least 3 servers that appear to have Linux source code available, although online discussions indicate that there may be many more. There is speculation that the code can e acquired through FTP, Gopher, HTTP, Bittorrent, Rsync, SMB, NFS, AFS, Freenet, and that people may even be _selling_ CS's and DVD's with the code.
SCO was quick to comment that "After they copied those 5 lines from one of our header files, the {deleted} deserved it. As soon as we find a person in our company that knows how to download a file, we'll be comparing every line of Linux to this stuff we bought from AT&T. Oh hey! We've already found something - they copied the word '#include' from us!" The phone interview was cut short as Mr. McBride was called away to launch a new lawsuit.
Law enforcement agencies have been contacted and are investigating, but the process is slow as the officers are heard to exclaim "Wow, it has a GUI?", "Damn, this is stable - I can't crash it at all!", "Whadda you mean, Office is included?", and "How do I turn off the grappling hook and use the rocket launcher?"
Mason, Buildkernel and more: http://www.stearns.org/
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
The account continues in verse seven if you don't know how it turned out. I agree with Groklaw's advice. Leave it be!
www.mikesmind.com - www.daddyworkathome.com - www.freetofarm.org - www.tenfoottable.com
Does that mean *BSD is finally, after all that, dying?
sulli
RTFJ.
"Finally, this is very important: If you propose to continue working in the IT industry, and somebody offers you a look at the source, just say no. Remember - if you learn too much about the internals of Microsoft products, you may find yourself unable to work for anybody except Microsoft. Yike."
They get paid for the first 40 hours in a week, then the other 60-70 hours is for the fun of it all.
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Someone already wrote a patch.
Guys, let me warn you, this is nothing to laugh about! DON'T TOUCH THAT STUFF! Two of my friends work in Motorola research laboratory. Yesterday one of the downloaded the code at home and then they both looked at it. One of them was lucky - his retina burned the second he saw the code. The second did not escape that easily. His eyes glued to the screen, his hands typing madly... the paramedics found him 20 minutes later clutching the mouse and writhing in agony. After 2 hours in intensive care he (or, rather what left of him) was sent home. Today, after they were not let into the office building, both of them got pink slips by courier mail.
A cousin of a girlfriend of my former classmate yesterday went to the university computer lab to print his essay. He catched a glimpse of some code on the screen and didn't even thought about it for a second. When he returned home, he logged on to sourceforge.net and before anyone could stop him, he tainted a dozen software projects there. Shit, two perfectly good Xeon servers had to be scrapped and replaced with clean machines in a hurry.
That's just crazy, this code is the strongest shit I ever saw... oh, fuck, forget what I just said - "the strongest shit I ever heard about and never saw". It's worse than the GPL, it taints your code so quickly you can't even notice that. PLEASE, FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYTHING GOOD IN THIS WORLD, DON'T DOWNLOAD THE CODE.
Copy this message and send it to all your friends! You need to warn them not to look at the code! POST IT ON FORUMS AND MESSAGE BOARDS! THIS IS AN EVIL PLOT TO TAINT ALL CODE IN THIS WORLD! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
Yeah, but with Emacs, at least I would've gotten a decent OS.
I wonder how many people on /. will start using comments or code snippets from the windows source in their sigs?
Go not unto/. for advice, for you will be told both yea and nay (but have nothing to do with the question)
Microsoft tainted me a long time ago--as it did with all of us, merely by existing.
Show me the source, Sam.
Furry cows moo and decompress.