Microsoft opens up source code

Microsoft has begun a large-scale open source programme, handing over copies of the source code for Windows 2000 and releasing betas of Windows XP to large enterprise customers in the US.

The software giant has always carefully guarded its source code and has resisted repeated calls from the industry to go open source.

"At the moment it's only available [in the US], but there is a worldwide roll-out planned for the end of the year," a Microsoft spokeswoman said, adding that the company had released code on a small scale in the past.

Commentators said Microsoft's decision was inevitable as more companies warm to open source software.

Jon Collins, head of research at the Sundial Consultancy, believes the move will mean a substantial rise in vulnerabilities being reported to Microsoft.

"Windows 2000 is so complex that it makes it hard to find bugs. With a more open source strategy Microsoft will be able to release patches for holes more effectively," he said.

"Microsoft is continuously under fire from the industry. It won't have handed the source code out unless pushed into it," added Collins.

Open source advocate Eddie Bleasdale, a director at Netproject, claimed it was a knee-jerk reaction.

"The company has done this because it had to prove that the modifications it made to the Kerberos standard haven't limited the software. It sees Linux moving at a phenomenal pace and has seen the writing on the wall. It's too late for Microsoft to catch up with Linux in the server market."

The move, he added, will cause blushes at Microsoft once people scrutinise its code. "Everybody will pull the source code to bits and laugh at it," he said.