Microsoft to Let Governments Access Code for Office 2003; Move Is Part of Campaign To Provide Alternatives For Open-Source Software

The addition of Office to the program comes as Microsoft is trying to tighten relations with governments and dissuade them from adopting Linux and other open-source software, which is made by a loosely knit community of programmers and is built on code that can be freely modified. Advocates of open-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Wall Street journal. Eastern edition
Main Author Cassell Bryan-Low and Robert A. Guth
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, N.Y Dow Jones & Company Inc 20.09.2004
EditionEastern edition
Subjects
Alliances
Business government relations
Codes
Government
Open source software
Public domain
Software
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Summary:The addition of Office to the program comes as Microsoft is trying to tighten relations with governments and dissuade them from adopting Linux and other open-source software, which is made by a loosely knit community of programmers and is built on code that can be freely modified. Advocates of open-source software say that open access to code can produce software that is more secure than commercial software made by Microsoft, Oracle Corp. and others. The program in part is a security blanket for government agencies worried that Microsoft products have ways for the company or the U.S. government to view sensitive data on computers around the world. Access to the code should prove that such "back doors" don't exist, Microsoft executives say.
ISSN:0099-9660