"Microsoft Corp. , trying to protect its software
empire from open-source rivals like Linux, on Thursday said it is
expanding a program to share the underlying code of its Windows
operating system.
Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, which it started last year
in an effort to counter the image that it jealously guards its
products, is being expanded to let systems integrators -- companies
that help other firms manage their computer systems -- peek at the
Windows blueprints.
Under the expanded program, more than 100 major systems
integrators would be eligible to refer to -- but not change and
redistribute -- Windows code, Craig Mundie, Microsoft's vice
president of advanced strategy and policy, told Reuters in an
interview."
