Salon: Who cracked Microsoft?

"...And so far, we don't have a clue as to who was responsible. Are Russian mafia figures actually involved, or is the St. Petersburg data point just a link in a chain that leads elsewhere? Is this a case of industrial espionage or juvenile delinquency?"

"Or is it freedom fighting?"

"The antagonistic dynamic that exists between Microsoft and free-software hackers is unavoidably obvious to anyone who has been following the growth of open-source software over the past few years. At one point, arch open-source evangelist Eric Raymond was even linking to a picture of Bill Gates in Nazi regalia from the opensource.org Web site. In Europe, distaste for and distrust of out-of-control American capitalism are widely acknowledged motivating forces for free-software hacking. Open vs. proprietary -- it's the good vs. evil foundation of the hacker worldview. Hatred of Microsoft keeps some hackers up at night, plotting their own software-led world domination."

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Related Stories:

• LinuxJournal: Say "No, thanks" to Offers of Illegal MS Source Code (Oct 28, 2000)
• eWeek: Industry reaction to Microsoft hack: It will only get worse(Oct 27, 2000)
• Wired: How MS Helped With Own Hack(Oct 27, 2000)
• The Register: MS hacked again -- "illuminati terrorists," this time(Oct 27, 2000)
• CNET News.com: Microsoft computer network hacked; WINE to benefit?(Oct 27, 2000)
• ZDNet UK: Hackers burgle Microsoft source code(Oct 27, 2000)
• Microsoft secrets 'safe' after hack attack (Oct 27, 2000)