Microsoft offers source code to China
Reuters | at | by Mike
Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates said on Friday the software giant had signed a deal to give the Chinese government access to its source code, which lies at the heart of its Windows operating system. The world's largest software firm, fighting competition from the free "open-source" Linux platform, will distribute its jealously-guarded technology to China under an initiative to promote software security and to woo the world's most populous country.
"The government source program covers 100 percent of the source code of Windows, every part of Windows," Gates told a news conference of eager Chinese reporters, who even asked for his autograph.