Microsoft is considering an expansion of a program that would allow companies to see the source code underlying its Office software and other applications.
The company"s Shared Source Initiative, launched nearly three years ago, allows business customers, governments, business partners and academic institutions access to the source code, or software blueprint, underlying Microsoft"s Windows operating system and other products. Currently, 20 of the company"s products are available under the program, including all versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. But Microsoft has yet to extend access to Office, its most profitable product, or to its server-based applications.
That could change this year. The software giant is "looking up the application stack" to determine which products it will offer next under the shared-source program, Jason Matusow, Shared Source manager at Microsoft, told CNET News.com. On the short list are Office, various server applications, the company"s development tools and even its catalog of game software. "We"re not holding anything back in terms of our thinking on this," Matusow said.