Microsoft Shares Office Source Code

KingFishKingFish
edited September 2004 in Science & Tech
Facing growing competition from open source software providers, Microsoft has decided to allow governments and international organizations access to source code for its Office 2003 productivity suite.
The Redmond, Washington, company said this week that it would be offering governments access to the Office code under a shared source license as part of its Government Security Program. The U.K. government has already signed up to see the code, Microsoft says. The move is aimed at shoring up confidence in the security and interoperability of Microsoft software as it faces stiffer competition in the public sector from rivals such as Sun Microsystems, which has been touting growing support among governments for its open source productivity software, dubbed StarOffice. In addition to responding to open source threats, Microsoft is also hoping that by allowing governments to lift the lid on Office it can diminish the mounting security concerns raised about its software.
How long will it take for this source code to be leaked? -KF

Source: PCWorld

Comments

  • -Ben-Ben
    edited September 2004
    I wouldn't expect it to.

    They also share windows source code aswell with goverment agencys.
  • KingFishKingFish
    edited September 2004
    Yes, but when you broaden the number of hands that have access you also increase your chances of having it leaked. Microsoft is usually pretty tight with their source code-this is a change of attitude and direction from Redmond. It'll be interesting to see if it bites them on the arse or not.

    KF
  • -Ben-Ben
    edited September 2004
    Theese are the same goverments who have the windows OS source code aswell.
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