MS Win2k and NT 4 source leaked
 

Heads are going to start rolling for this:


http://slashdot.org/articles/04/02/1...id=109&tid=187

On MSNBC now to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4253584/

This SUCKS.

try this one too

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4253584/

damn you're fast

My ping rebalanced out. >:E

Hell hath no fury like MS will have...

There is another thread about this... Like I said in there, dont even *glance* at the source. Bad news.

I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe this is the full source for various reasons. One being that the full source is split up over MANY different servers over at MS and it would be difficult to get it all together...unless this were intentional.

Somehow, the Valve code release for Half Life 2 had more *omigawd* impact on me. MS has probably changed the NT kernel so much since then, it really doesn't matter..except to the lawyers. Its about time somebody on the inside cracked!!!

Regardless. As much as I am a fan of OSS, and as much as I dont like MS, this is bad news, have no doubts about it, this is not good.

Thats just the thing though... Every version of Windows since NT 4.0 has used essentially the same kernel, which is the heart of the OS. NT 4, W2k, XP, 2k3, they all use a derivation of the same kernel. This *does* affect all recent versions of Windows (assuming the kernel, or any other shared parts of the OS were leaked).

More important IMHO are the impacts this could have on the Open Source Software community. Not good. Not good at all.

Yeah even windows 2003 still uses an NT core. Longhorn uses an NT core to.

I agree, there's nothing good about this, but I don't have as bleak a view as far as what this could do to open source. Why? Because it won't do anything to open source. It's not good. It's not bad. The only people in the open source community that will be effected by this are the ones that deserve to be effected - and those are the people that might use this code illegally. When it comes down to it though, I don't know anyone involved in the open source community that would utilize code that they don't have the right to utilize.

it's not the complete source.

I agree. Most of the people in the OSS area have enough integrity to not deal with the source. However, as we have seen with the recent SCO case, that doesnt stop the allegations from flying. And seeing as these projects are funded and run by people who cant afford to stand up to the wrath of MS lawyers, things could get bleak indeed.

Neither was the HL2 source but look what happened.

What happened has very little to do with the source leak. Valve gave a release date they were simply not going to hit anyway. They were nowhere near complete. The source leak was simply a very convenient scapegoat for their own failure to reach their own deadline. Not that it didn't create the need for a bit of delay, but if the game were anywhere NEAR as complete as it should have been when the source was leaked, there's no reason it shouldn't be out by now.

I agree with you man. From what I have seen, there is no reason the game shouldn't be out already. What I mean is even with part of the windows source, alot can still be done. All it takes is a little for expliots to be writen.

This, too, will blow over, eventually. Microsoft will probably release a few dozen service packs, and that'll be about it. Don't get me wrong, it IS serious and they'll hunt down whoever's responsible.

But I don't see this being the end of anything, nor damaging the oss community... The only thing damaged here may be Microsoft's rep, that's all.

When the HL2 leak happened, I saw a lot of guys on the Internet talking about the leaked code, trying to find it, because they thought that all you had to do was find the code, use some simple command and wham, play the game. Riiiight. But I never understood why the leak was supposed to be a reason for Valve to delay the release of the actual game.

Leaking the sourced isn't a very big deal, it's incomplete and it's not exactly as comprehensive as we'd like. It's more embarassing then anything else.

As for people who say that their "technology" will be stolen... I don't think we are going to see any new algorithms or techniques that haven't already been done better elsewhere. After all, windows is based on concepts and ideas pioneered in academia, every OS is.

The thing that amazes me the most is that the source code takes up 203 megabytes compressed and still represents only 15% of the total source! At least it does according to microsoft.

And this is for a microkernel OS! It's really quite incredible, one wonders what the hell they put in it.

Apparently if you follow the link on Fark or here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3485545.stm , it's about a 203 meg chunk of code which expands to about 600 megs.
I'm not surprised about it. That and this damn windows computer crashing makes me hate windows even more...

hehe....."full of profanity"....hehe

Supposly the total size of the complete source, uncompressed, is 40 gigs.

Weird. Lots of redundant code I presume :) Psh, who'd want to see that "speghetti string mess of code" (as my uncle put it) anyway?

:thumbsup:

oooh its like the movie anti-trust

Let's hope not. That movie sucked ass.

I sure as hell wouldn't want to try to read it. :crazy:

On another geek site, they were saying if you plan on offering anything to the open source stuff, stay the hell away from the Windows Code, as much as I'd love to look at it, I want to keep my options open for the future unless the code becomes released but I doubt it.

I wonder if viruses will get any worse now?

Ya think? Every virus-writer in the world is going to be scouring the souce for vulnerability.

This is the last wall crashing down on the "security through obfuscation" argument for closed-source software. Who knows how swiss-cheesey Windows really is? Answer: exactly the folks you don't want knowing that, now.

The complete code was not leaked, just a piece of it.

How useful is part of a source code? Well, according to my freind (whose a programmer), it all depends. Of course he thinks windows is an easy target anyways (he's a Linux fan). I suppose I agree, but I haven't made the jump to linux yet or switched over to a Mac.

So I'm somewhat worried. But I'm hoping Microsoft will come up with a security fix for this but quick. Meaning by Monday. But we'll see.

I'm grabbing a Mac and getting the fuck outta here!