Sydney Morning Herald: Would You Like Source With That?

“Microsoft’s offer to open more of the Windows source code to
certain governments under its Government Security Program is
supposed to ‘enhance their ability to design and deploy secure
computing infrastructures,’ according to Redmond’s own take on the
policy.

“For some time now, the company has been worried about the
spread of the Open Source operating system Linux. This is but the
latest step by which Microsoft hopes to appear to be open, even if
the reality is somewhat different.

“There is already a provision for people to look at Windows
source code, provided they accept a non-disclosure agreement. The
Shared Source Initiative has been in place since 2001 but it hasn’t
exactly set the Thames on fire. No queue-jumping there…”

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