7 ms·
> After the whole NSA stuff, many governments are going to require Microsoft to give them access to the source code, if they want them to continue using it, or
by mintplant 13y ago
> After the whole NSA stuff, many governments are going to require Microsoft to give them access to the source code, if they want them to continue using it, or buy the new versions of Windows.
That's interesting to hear. Got any more information on that?
- Maxious 13y agoWell this acknowledges the existence of the source code sharing program... https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/government-security-program.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/government-secu...
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mburns 13y agoThe Chinese government has the Windows source code for a decade. Microsoft's press release: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2003/feb03/02-28gspchinapr.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2003/feb03/02-28gs...
- Zigurd 13y agoMicrosoft has made source code available to governments for quite a long time now. However I don't think Microsoft has ever made buildable source code available, nor does it intend to.
- gejjaxxita 13y agoCan you explain what you mean? How is it the source code if it's not buildable?
- karlmdavis 13y agoThink about the largest, most complex codebase you've ever worked on. Then, remove any architecture documentation, wikis, etc. used to document how it's all tied together. Then, remove the build scripts and any lib folders. Imagine how much fun it'd be trying to get that to build. Multiply the terror that inspires by (at least) 100x.
- patio11 13y agoI think everything you say is likely to be accurate. However, given that we're talking about a nation state in an adversarial context, remember the relevant comparison is "Express the pain of black-box reconstructing the Windows build process in terms of ACEs (aircraft carrier equivalents)." I very much doubt that building Windows is a 10 ACE problem, or a 1 ACE problem, or a 0.1 ACE problem.
- kro0ub 13y agoWhere can more info be found on the "ACE" metric?
- mechanical_fish 13y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane's_Fighting_Ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane's_Fighting_Ships Or if you're lazy you just Google up this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_of_the_United_States_Navy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_of_t... The USA has ten active Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. Wikipedia claims that the most recent, the USS George H.W. Bush, was completed in 2009 at a cost of $6.2 billion. A bargain compared to the projected cost of the USS Gerald R. Ford, now under construction with a budget of $15.5 billion. These numbers are ridiculously overlarge in this context, of course, which is the point. Access to the Windows build toolchain is not even a $10M project. It's not a technical problem. You start by just offering the money to the company. A few million dollars, plus a history of enforcing your TOP SECRET security clearances, plus credible assurances that you're not going to launch a competing product, is probably enough to convince the company to just give you what you want. Quietly, of course. No need to spook the other customers. If that doesn't work, there's always espionage.
- rcthompson 13y agoWhich means that no one can verify that the source code MS gives them is the source code that they are running, which means NSA backdoor etc. blah tinfoil hat blah.