The recent disclosure of a security hole revealed through the leak of Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT source code is raising several issues that the software giant will have to face as a result of the breach. Analysts are indicating the leak could have a profound effect not only on the security of Microsoft’s software, but also on the company’s worldwide reputation. The source-code leak — coupled with a new Internet Explorer vulnerability discovered over the weekend — marks the beginning of what is expected to be a painful period for Microsoft.
It's OpenSource that it most legally vunerable. The Microsoft source code leak could be intentional. By doing this Microsoft can attack Open Source but not closed source products. How? By tempting Open Source projects such as Wine to use the Windows code that has been released. Any of thier code that is then later found in Open Source is then attacked legally. Closed source can more easily `copy` code from OSS than vise-versa because of the less transparency in closed sourced code. Additionally, OpenSource has little if no legal funding. Proving it and gaining evidence in favour: - The code released is one of the more useful of sections of source code compared to the the rest of the OS to Open Source projects. - The code released contains IP of a lower value to the corporation. There may be other ways of finding out more detail. This message is Open Source, permission to quote at will ;)
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Microsoft Code Leak Invokes Issues Beyond Security
Posted by: Jay Lyman February 17, 2004 10:58 AMThe recent disclosure of a security hole revealed through the leak of Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT source code is raising several issues that the software giant will have to face as a result of the breach. Analysts are indicating the leak could have a profound effect not only on the security of Microsoft’s software, but also on the company’s worldwide reputation. The source-code leak — coupled with a new Internet Explorer vulnerability discovered over the weekend — marks the beginning of what is expected to be a painful period for Microsoft.
The Microsoft source code leak could be intentional. By doing this Microsoft can attack Open Source but not closed source products. How? By tempting Open Source projects such as Wine to use the Windows code that has been released.
Any of thier code that is then later found in Open Source is then attacked legally. Closed source can more easily `copy` code from OSS than vise-versa because of the less transparency in closed sourced code. Additionally, OpenSource has little if no legal funding.
Proving it and gaining evidence in favour:
- The code released is one of the more useful of sections of source code compared to the the rest of the OS to Open Source projects.
- The code released contains IP of a lower value to the corporation.
There may be other ways of finding out more detail.
This message is Open Source, permission to quote at will ;)