[KLUG Advocacy] Access to Micro$oft Windows Source Code

[mag00]

I saw a headline in the Chicago Tribune newspaper recently
that stated "Micro$oft Ordered by Judge to Release Windows
Source Code"  Almost broke my neck as my body jerked around
to look at this article.  Could it be?  See article below!

Who isn't in the Linux camp, so to say, these days?  IBM, 
Sun, Dell, HP/Compaq, Apple, even AOL & Walmart... except
Micro$oft, eh?  Will Micro$oft somehow divert this obvious
acceptance with "1 degree of separation from the Unix Geeks"
advertisements?  In one word - NOPE!


http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24095.html


Judge grants States access to Windows source
By John Lettice
Posted: 16/02/2002 at 11:04 GMT

The Microsoft antitrust case yesterday took a new turn when Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly granted the nine US States still fighting the company access to
Windows source code. They'd asked for this earlier in the week, but it's still
faintly surprising that they're going to get it (apparently - Microsoft can be
expected to wriggle and emit loud stuck pig noises). 

Kollar-Kotelly played it deadpan: ""It seems to me that if your side has
access
to it, then the other side, frankly, should have access to it," she said in a
conference call. Presumably she means 'access for the purpose of the case,' as
otherwise the reasoning would apply equally to, say, access to Steve Ballmer's
stock options. 

The States want access to the code in order to confirm that Windows can be
customised, and can operate without the presence of IE. Microsoft has
contended throughout the trial that this is not the case, and that removing IE
would break it. The courts however concluded that the company did illegally
commingle (that is, arbitrarily mix up for commercial gain) code in Windows,
and some technical input on how it could be ripped apart again would be
helpful. We should also at this point stress that we are aware of 98lite,
even if the US legal system isn't, so stop telling us about it, OK? 

One interesting aspect of the judge's order is that the States are
specifically
being given access to Windows XP embedded code, as they are of the view
that this particular class of Windows can be used to show that Windows can
be customised. The Register's view is that embedded versions of Windows
are considerably less customised and embedded than Microsoft actually lets
on, but we'll see. 

Or perhaps we'll see. Microsoft is so sensitive about access to its source
code
that it will surely now go into a legal frenzy fighting the order, so it
could take a while.