4 ms·

Looks like there's some debate as to whether or not this has been exaggerated: https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37282 https://www.betaarchive.c

Looks like there's some debate as to whether or not this has been exaggerated: https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37282 https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37282 So far I haven't seen any links to source code. Quote from one of the admins: > Yes I have no idea where they got the 32TB stuff. We had a big leak of Win10 builds yes, but these were all Windows Insider stuff that were collected over time available to all Windows Insider members at one time or another. Edit: BA's official statement: https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37283 https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37283

gpm 9y ago
There does seem to be some source, as (now, not when you posted) discussed in that thread. Here's a pastebin (taken from that thread) with some filenames, including, for example, usb drivers https://pastebin.com/raw/VGEbWVSM https://pastebin.com/raw/VGEbWVSM
- KGIII 9y ago
  If you really want to see some Windows source code. You can just ask them - and they will send it to you. It's not open source and there are limits to what you can do with it. They call it their Shared Source Initiative. They want a reason for sharing it with you but I have used, 'I am just curious.' With that excuse, this was a long time ago when I still used Windows, I got the specific code I wanted for Outlook Express.
  - wfunction 9y ago
    How do you "ask them"? Do they have an email address for this? Or do you have to find the right guy on the team somehow?
    - gtirloni 9y ago
      Windows Shared Source initiative has existed for what, over 10 years now? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/ I think this "leak" is greatly exhagerated.
      - wfunction 9y ago
        None of those categories seem to include ordinary developers though?
        KGIII 9y ago
        If your company, or you, have a relationship with Microsoft, try the Enterprise. They are pretty lenient, though not always rapid in their responses.
        wfunction 9y ago
        But the point is you need to already have a relationship, right? It seems you can't just say "I'm curious" (or even better, "I want to track down X bug") and expect to get source access, contrary to what was claimed earlier... Enterprise specifically says you need to "Maintain 10,000 Windows seats" which is not something a lone developer would do...
        KGIII 9y ago
        My only tie was having an MSDN subscription.
        wfunction 9y ago
        And you got it through the Enterprise license? Through your company or personally? Nothing related to 10,000 Windows seats? That's pretty weird if so since they say you must meet that requirement...
        KGIII 9y ago
        I didn't misrepresent myself, was logged in, and had no issues. They may have changed it, but that is what I selected. You'll probably have to sign an NDA. Give it a shot.
        withinrafael 9y ago
  - Teever 9y ago
    Do they share the code for the windows update mechanisms and the code for cortana and other spyware that is installed by default in windows?
    - KGIII 9y ago
      I have no idea. I haven't used Windows in a years. Give it a shot. The most they can do is tell you no.
    - mmmnn 9y ago
      Put some effort in and reverse engineer it, if you really want to know how it works. Complaining about the lack of source code is just sheer laziness.
diodesign 9y ago
Hiya - I wrote the article. What's happened is that the Beta Archive folks have now deleted (or in the process of deleting) the private material that was uploaded to the BA FTP. There most definitely was non-officially-released internal Microsoft files in the archive, regardless of BA's intentions, such as the Shared Source Kit, the ARM64 Windows Server build, the Mobile Adaption Kit, and various prerelease versions of Windows. We've updated the story to explain why things aren't what they seem. Essentially, the files at the heart of the matter were there (we screenshotted them and saved copies of the forum posts) at time of writing, and they were removed later on Friday. In terms of the 32TB: that's the full decompressed dump of Windows files uploaded to BA. From what I understand, Microsoft hasn't released 32TB of public Insider material, so obviously there's extra sauce in the mix. That includes, yes, copies of officially released Insider builds plus confidential private stuff that should never have left Microsoft, let alone turned up in BA. We make this clear in the story - I'm starting to feel the headline could have been better to make this clearer rather than grabbing the biggest figure. I am beginning to regret this. BA can twist and complain all it likes - but stuff that was confidential within Microsoft ended up in their FTP archive (and some is still in there, such as the ARM64 stuff). The next stage of this story will be to uncover how exactly did this material escape Redmond. C.
- ryanlol 9y ago
  Clarify the 32TB and 8TB figures please. People with access to the archive who successfully downloaded the confidential stuff did not get nearly that much. Do you consider windows installation images to be "compressed files" in this context?
  - diodesign 9y ago
    Compressed, it is ~8TB. Fully expanded it is ~32TB. I think the bigger issue is not the final size, but that internal Microsoft material - particularly source code - has escaped into public FTP. That, to me, is the main thing, right? C.
    - kabdib 9y ago

gpm 9y ago

There does seem to be some source, as (now, not when you posted) discussed in that thread. Here's a pastebin (taken from that thread) with some filenames, including, for example, usb drivers https://pastebin.com/raw/VGEbWVSM https://pastebin.com/raw/VGEbWVSM

KGIII 9y ago
If you really want to see some Windows source code. You can just ask them - and they will send it to you. It's not open source and there are limits to what you can do with it. They call it their Shared Source Initiative. They want a reason for sharing it with you but I have used, 'I am just curious.' With that excuse, this was a long time ago when I still used Windows, I got the specific code I wanted for Outlook Express.
- wfunction 9y ago
  How do you "ask them"? Do they have an email address for this? Or do you have to find the right guy on the team somehow?
  - gtirloni 9y ago
    Windows Shared Source initiative has existed for what, over 10 years now? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/ I think this "leak" is greatly exhagerated.
    - wfunction 9y ago
      None of those categories seem to include ordinary developers though?
      - KGIII 9y ago
        If your company, or you, have a relationship with Microsoft, try the Enterprise. They are pretty lenient, though not always rapid in their responses.
        wfunction 9y ago
        But the point is you need to already have a relationship, right? It seems you can't just say "I'm curious" (or even better, "I want to track down X bug") and expect to get source access, contrary to what was claimed earlier... Enterprise specifically says you need to "Maintain 10,000 Windows seats" which is not something a lone developer would do...
        KGIII 9y ago
        My only tie was having an MSDN subscription.
        wfunction 9y ago
        And you got it through the Enterprise license? Through your company or personally? Nothing related to 10,000 Windows seats? That's pretty weird if so since they say you must meet that requirement...
        KGIII 9y ago
        I didn't misrepresent myself, was logged in, and had no issues. They may have changed it, but that is what I selected. You'll probably have to sign an NDA. Give it a shot.
      - withinrafael 9y ago
- Teever 9y ago
  Do they share the code for the windows update mechanisms and the code for cortana and other spyware that is installed by default in windows?
  - KGIII 9y ago
    I have no idea. I haven't used Windows in a years. Give it a shot. The most they can do is tell you no.
  - mmmnn 9y ago
    Put some effort in and reverse engineer it, if you really want to know how it works. Complaining about the lack of source code is just sheer laziness.

diodesign 9y ago

Hiya - I wrote the article. What's happened is that the Beta Archive folks have now deleted (or in the process of deleting) the private material that was uploaded to the BA FTP. There most definitely was non-officially-released internal Microsoft files in the archive, regardless of BA's intentions, such as the Shared Source Kit, the ARM64 Windows Server build, the Mobile Adaption Kit, and various prerelease versions of Windows. We've updated the story to explain why things aren't what they seem. Essentially, the files at the heart of the matter were there (we screenshotted them and saved copies of the forum posts) at time of writing, and they were removed later on Friday. In terms of the 32TB: that's the full decompressed dump of Windows files uploaded to BA. From what I understand, Microsoft hasn't released 32TB of public Insider material, so obviously there's extra sauce in the mix. That includes, yes, copies of officially released Insider builds plus confidential private stuff that should never have left Microsoft, let alone turned up in BA. We make this clear in the story - I'm starting to feel the headline could have been better to make this clearer rather than grabbing the biggest figure. I am beginning to regret this. BA can twist and complain all it likes - but stuff that was confidential within Microsoft ended up in their FTP archive (and some is still in there, such as the ARM64 stuff). The next stage of this story will be to uncover how exactly did this material escape Redmond. C.

ryanlol 9y ago
Clarify the 32TB and 8TB figures please. People with access to the archive who successfully downloaded the confidential stuff did not get nearly that much. Do you consider windows installation images to be "compressed files" in this context?
- diodesign 9y ago
  Compressed, it is ~8TB. Fully expanded it is ~32TB. I think the bigger issue is not the final size, but that internal Microsoft material - particularly source code - has escaped into public FTP. That, to me, is the main thing, right? C.
  - kabdib 9y ago