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• Microsoft yanks the program that probably includes stolen open source code

  Posted on November 11, 2009 at 21:07 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  A few days ago I posted an article about Microsoft stealing open source code, the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.

  Now Ars Technica reports that

  [W]hether the software giant is actually violating the GPL, a widely used … free software license, is not confirmed. “We are currently taking down the Windows USB/DVD Tool (WUDT) from the Microsoft Store site until our review of the tool is complete,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. “We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”

  It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft ‘fesses up to the gaffe and, if so, how they remedy it.

  Other Microsoft open source, Microsoft steals open source code

• Microsoft swipes open source code

  Posted on November 8, 2009 at 03:13 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  It seems that somebody inside Microsoft stole and re-used open source programming code for the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool – the program available when you buy Windows 7 via the Microsoft Store that allows you to put the Win7 installer on a USB drive.

  Rafael Rivera discovered the apparent plagiarism while picking through the program. He blogs:

  A simple search of some method names and properties, gleaned from Reflector’s output, revealed the source code was obviously lifted from the CodePlex-hosted (yikes) GPLv2-licensed ImageMaster project. (The author of the code was not contacted by Microsoft.)

  I see two problems here. (I’m not a FSF [Free Software Foundation] professional, so there may be more.)

  First, Microsoft did not offer or provide source code for their modifications to ImageMaster nor their tool….
  

  Second, Microsoft glued in some of their own licensing terms, further restricting your rights to the software.

  Man, that burns me up.

  Windows News Microsoft open source, Microsoft steals program code