The leak of some of Microsoft Corp."s Windows source code this month highlights the struggle proprietary software companies face in providing developers, partners and customers access to the code while protecting their own intellectual property. Although the source code leak, discovered Feb. 12, won"t change the way Microsoft shares some Windows code through its Shared Source and Government Security programs, industry watchers and users alike hope the company will learn from the leak and possibly consider the benefits of certain open-source concepts.
But that"s not likely to happen soon, according to company officials in Redmond, Wash. Despite the uproar over the leak of Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 source code, the files don"t appear to present an immediate security threat to Microsoft or Windows users. "The directory list that I have seen for the leaked Windows 2000 code runs to some 1,000 pages, but there is no way this could be used to compile a working version of Windows, as it"s just a small part of the code that would be required for that," said a developer who has seen the source files and who requested anonymity.