Microsoft confirms GPL code use

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 16th November 2009
Comments (18) Stumble
Microsoft confirms GPL code use

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool has been confirmed as using GPL code, and soon will be licensed under the same terms.

Microsoft's Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, which was removed from the site following allegations it used GPL-licensed code without permissions, is to be re-instated - only this time it's bringing its source code along for the ride.

In a post to Port 25, the company's open-source website - via iTWire - Microsoft confirmed that the utility did indeed contain code cribbed from the ImageMaster open-source project originally licensed under the GNU General Public Licence v2.

In mitigation, Microsoft's open-source community manager Peter Galli blames " a third party" which was contracted to create the utility on Microsoft's behalf, although admits that the company shares responsibility for the foul-up "as we did not catch it as part of our code review process."

Galli goes on to state that his company's intentions are to "aim is to be respectful of the terms under which that [third party] code is being shared," and has confirmed that once the tool is made available for download once more "we will be making the source code as well as binaries [...] available next week under the terms of the General Public License v2."

Galli also states that the company has "conducted a review of other code provided through the Microsoft Store and this was the only incident of this sort we could find."

Do you think that Microsoft is doing the right thing by adhering to the terms of the GNU General Public Licence, or should it be worried about lax standards that allowed the GPL code to be used in the first place? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote steveo_mcg 16th November 2009, 10:15
I'm only worried when MS does something promptly with out dragging its heals and being a general obstacle, it worries me :)
Quote crazyceo 16th November 2009, 11:10
I think it's a really smart move by Microsoft. They admitted their mistake, found out why it happened and are re-instating it with all the bells and whistles. They obviously felt the need to release it early due to netbook upgrades as Windows 7 is the ONLY choice of OS for Netbooks today!
Quote ParaHelix.org 16th November 2009, 12:22
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyceo
I think it's a really smart move by Microsoft. They admitted their mistake, found out why it happened and are re-instating it with all the bells and whistles. They obviously felt the need to release it early due to netbook upgrades as Windows 7 is the ONLY choice of OS for Netbooks today!

Ohhh please tell me that my eyes decive me. Did you just say "Windows 7 is the ONLY choice of OS for Netbooks today!". Oh please, ohhh please.
Quote Bauul 16th November 2009, 12:32
Quote:
Originally Posted by steveo_mcg
I'm only worried when MS does something promptly with out dragging its heals and being a general obstacle, it worries me :)

I know, it's worrying. It's almost like Microsoft are trying to be an honest company.
Quote 1ad7 16th November 2009, 14:19
yeah there must be some reason they really want us to download and use this tool... very unmicrosoft like behavior.
Quote B3CK 16th November 2009, 14:23
Perhaps this code is the start of Cyberdyne through MS?
Quote alexicore5000 16th November 2009, 19:49
Quote:
Originally Posted by ParaHelix.org
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyceo
I think it's a really smart move by Microsoft. They admitted their mistake, found out why it happened and are re-instating it with all the bells and whistles. They obviously felt the need to release it early due to netbook upgrades as Windows 7 is the ONLY choice of OS for Netbooks today!

Ohhh please tell me that my eyes decive me. Did you just say "Windows 7 is the ONLY choice of OS for Netbooks today!". Oh please, ohhh please.

how many people have returned netbooks because they didn't understand the bundled operating system?
Quote crazyceo 17th November 2009, 00:26
The Linux returns were huge until Asus changed it's tune after the Linux fanboys started whining about the bad press. Then their statements were retracted rather sharpish and never mentioned again.

And no your eyes didn't deceive you, there is only one true OS for netbooks today and it's Windows 7! Please don't come back with some stupid Linux arguement, we don;t do communism here!
Quote alexicore5000 17th November 2009, 01:31
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyceo
The Linux returns were huge until Asus changed it's tune after the Linux fanboys started whining about the bad press. Then their statements were retracted rather sharpish and never mentioned again.

And no your eyes didn't deceive you, there is only one true OS for netbooks today and it's Windows 7! Please don't come back with some stupid Linux arguement, we don;t do communism here!

Its nice when somebody does their research and understands the market. Windows 7 will do wonders for the netbook market.... particularly those with touchscreen technology. XP is good, but old. Linux can be optimised to a greater extent , but the average (uniformed) user wants to run MS Word and Outlook and such. This is the same same debate on the desktop so i'm repeating old news tbh.

obviously theres OSX....but we know whats happened there http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/11/16/judge-rules-against-psystar/1
Quote Javerh 17th November 2009, 05:39
Does this mean Microsoft is now going open-source? The open-source community has always considered itself to be the anthithesis of Microsoft. What will they do now?
Quote Shagbag 17th November 2009, 08:05
M$ had no choice but to release the code under the GPL. That's the nature of the GPL. It's not philanthropy on their part. The employee responsible was sacked.

The GPL is Microsoft's antithesis. If you do your research you'll see why.

M$ have been caught with their pants down on this one and I'm sure there are red faces in Redmond all around the board table.

My biggest surprise is that the code got released in the first place ie. that it passed all of M$'s internal checks. It just goes to show how poor those checks are. Then again, this isn't surprising given the number of bugs that come with every new release of windows.
Quote crazyceo 17th November 2009, 08:20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shagbag
Then again, this isn't surprising given the number of bugs that come with every new release of windows.

Name any new release of an operating system that didn't come out with bugs? Every new release has them, even XP was a dog in the early years. Don't get started on incompatible OSX or open doors Linux since those OS are only for the minority groups, not enough users to actually measure a good release or not.
Quote Shagbag 17th November 2009, 11:28
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyceo
Name any new release of an operating system that didn't come out with bugs? Every new release has them, even XP was a dog in the early years. Don't get started on incompatible OSX or open doors Linux since those OS are only for the minority groups, not enough users to actually measure a good release or not.
You are clearly deluded. Linux is not a minority grouping. Linux DOMINATES windows on the server. Hell, even MS submitted some linux kernel code because they were worried windows couldn't even be run virtualised on linux. lol. Then again, go and look at how many of the top 500 supercomputers run linux and how many run windows. Then come back and try and tell anybody - let alone me - that linux is a 'minority' OS. lol. Now, what router are you using? Does it run linux? Most do. My Netgear does. And what about mobile phones? Linux is a big player in mobile telephony hand sets, oPhone, Android, etc. Again, no minorities there I'm afraid. You know, to try and make out that linux is some sort of 'minority' operating system run by a select few is really showing your ignorance of what actually goes on in the tech world.
Quote Jumeira_Johnny 17th November 2009, 11:32
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shagbag
You are clearly deluded. Linux is not a minority grouping. Linux DOMINATES windows on the server. Hell, even MS submitted some linux kernel code because they were worried windows couldn't even be run virtualised on linux. lol. Then again, go and look at how many of the top 500 supercomputers run linux and how many run windows. Then come back and try and tell anybody - let alone me - that linux is a 'minority' OS. lol. Now, what router are you using? Does it run linux? Most do. My Netgear does. And what about mobile phones? Linux is a big player in mobile telephony hand sets, oPhone, Android, etc. Again, no minorities there I'm afraid. You know, to try and make out that linux is some sort of 'minority' operating system run by a select few is really showing your ignorance of what actually goes on in the tech world.
Holy linux pwnage, batman.
Quote alexicore5000 17th November 2009, 11:38
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shagbag
Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyceo
Name any new release of an operating system that didn't come out with bugs? Every new release has them, even XP was a dog in the early years. Don't get started on incompatible OSX or open doors Linux since those OS are only for the minority groups, not enough users to actually measure a good release or not.
You are clearly deluded. Linux is not a minority grouping. Linux DOMINATES windows on the server. Hell, even MS submitted some linux kernel code because they were worried windows couldn't even be run virtualised on linux. lol. Then again, go and look at how many of the top 500 supercomputers run linux and how many run windows. Then come back and try and tell anybody - let alone me - that linux is a 'minority' OS. lol. Now, what router are you using? Does it run linux? Most do. My Netgear does. And what about mobile phones? Linux is a big player in mobile telephony hand sets, oPhone, Android, etc. Again, no minorities there I'm afraid. You know, to try and make out that linux is some sort of 'minority' operating system run by a select few is really showing your ignorance of what actually goes on in the tech world.

seriously high horse...pretty sure he was referring to the consumer market
Quote RSDeuce 17th November 2009, 16:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shagbag
You are clearly deluded. Linux is not a minority grouping. Linux DOMINATES windows on the server. Hell, even MS submitted some linux kernel code because they were worried windows couldn't even be run virtualised on linux. lol. Then again, go and look at how many of the top 500 supercomputers run linux and how many run windows. Then come back and try and tell anybody - let alone me - that linux is a 'minority' OS. lol. Now, what router are you using? Does it run linux? Most do. My Netgear does. And what about mobile phones? Linux is a big player in mobile telephony hand sets, oPhone, Android, etc. Again, no minorities there I'm afraid. You know, to try and make out that linux is some sort of 'minority' operating system run by a select few is really showing your ignorance of what actually goes on in the tech world.

And in the case of the routers, smartphones, netbooks, tablets, etc... The user is kept as far from the Linux kernel as possible. The OS lies behind as thick a veneer as possible, so they don't even know it is Linux.

Supercomputers aren't used by users, they are used by SysAdmins, at least. Probably more often by a person with a doctorate than anything else. Servers are ONLY touched by admins. Sounds an awful lot like a minority to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love what each linux flavor is capable of, and I have a huge appreciation of what it means to the marketplace, but it remains a "minority" in the user marketplace in context of what I believe the guy above meant. Users do not know a thing about it. And it most assuredly has no huge share of the desktop OS space, and probably never will.
Quote quack 11th December 2009, 01:34
And the tool is back up, now licensed under the GPL @ http://wudt.codeplex.com/
Quote gnutonian 11th December 2009, 01:51
Quote:
Originally Posted by Javerh
Does this mean Microsoft is now going open-source? The open-source community has always considered itself to be the anthithesis of Microsoft. What will they do now?
The GPL is a free software licence. It's got nothing to do with "open-source".
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.