Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft fesses up to stealing code

  Posted on November 16, 2009 at 05:51 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Remember the incident I told you about last week, where Microsoft got caught stealing open source code, and using it in one of their own products? The company has finally fessed up.

  ‘Softie Peter Galli writes:

  After looking at the code in question, we are now able to confirm this was indeed the case, although it was not intentional on our part. While we had contracted with a third party to create the tool, we share responsibility as we did not catch it as part of our code review process.

  I’m not sure what Peter means when he says “although it was not intentional on our part.” Of course it was intentional. Not in the sense that some high level Microsoft committee made a deliberate decision to steal source code. But definitely in the sense that the culture at Microsoft still – after all these years – still emphasizes exigency over fair play.

  As compensation, MS has agreed to release the program as an open source program. Well, OK, but then what?

  Look at it this way. If, oh, Apple had stolen Microsoft source code – lifted it, copied it wholesale – and stuck it in an Apple product, what do you think would happen?

  The fact that Microsoft stole from some poor programmer (or small group of programmers) who can’t afford an army of lawyers makes all the difference, eh?

  Other Microsoft steals open source code, open source

• 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