[wordup] Microsoft Uses Open-Source Code Despite Denying Use of Such Software

[Adam Shand]

URL: http://public.wsj.com/news/hmc/sb992819157437237260.htm

Microsoft Uses Open-Source Code Despite Denying Use of Such Software
By LEE GOMES
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

June 18, 2001

Microsoft Corp., even while mounting a new campaign against open-source
software, has quietly been using such free computer code in several major
products, as well as on key portions of a popular Web site -- despite
denying last week that it did so.

Software connected with the FreeBSD open-source operating system is used
in several places deep inside several versions of Microsoft's Windows
software, such as in the "TCP/IP" section that arranges all connections to
the Internet. The company also uses FreeBSD on numerous "server" computers
that manage major functions at its Hotmail free e-mail service, whose
registered users exceed 100 million and make it one of the Web's busiest
sites.

Microsoft acknowledged its repeated use of open-source code Friday, in
response to questions about the matter. Just two days earlier, it had
specifically denied the existence of any such software at Hotmail.

"Open-source" programs, such as the popular Linux operating system, are
typically free and allow users to view and modify blueprint-like
instructions known as source code. The growing popularity of such software
is among the most potent competition for some of Microsoft's products, and
for a new technology it has proposed called Microsoft.NET.

In recent statements, Microsoft executives have argued that open-source
software is dangerous to companies using it, in large part because of the
licensing provisions that accompany the software. Microsoft Vice President
Craig Mundie, for example, said in a recent speech that all open-source
software "has inherent security risks and can force intellectual property
into the public domain."

But Microsoft's statements Friday suggest the company has itself been
taking advantage of the very technology it has insisted would bring dire
consequences to others. "I am appalled at the way Microsoft bashes open
source on the one hand, while depending on it for its business on the
other,"  said Marshall Kirk McKusick, a leader of the FreeBSD development
team.

While not as well-known as Linux, FreeBSD has a strong following in the
technical community. Much of Microsoft's use of the software at Hotmail
was uncovered Thursday evening by Trevor Johnson, a FreeBSD developer in
Los Angeles who used standard Internet monitoring tools to check on the
computers at Hotmail. Mr. Johnson said he acted because he was skeptical
of Microsoft's claim, in a Wall Street Journal article Thursday, that
there was no FreeBSD left at the service.

When Microsoft moved to buy Hotmail in 1997, it was already running on
FreeBSD, and continued to do so for several years, a source of some
embarrassment to Microsoft. The company had earlier said, though, that it
removed all FreeBSD from Hotmail last summer, and even has a lengthy
technical paper on its Web site describing the transition.

But Friday, Microsoft conceded FreeBSD was still being used at Hotmail on
machines that track advertising and that run a crucial Internet function
known as "DNS hosting." A Microsoft spokesman said he couldn't explain why
Microsoft had given out incorrect information on the topic.

The spokesman said FreeBSD was still in use simply because the company had
yet to switch the machines over to Windows.

But one employee of the Redmond, Wash., company said Microsoft has
deliberately kept FreeBSD in parts of Hotmail because of its technical
superiority over Windows in important functions and furthermore had
decided to actually increase its reliance on FreeBSD. Many of the
company's Web sites went down much of a day in January, and this person
said FreeBSD was judged to be better than Windows at helping to prevent a
recurrence of the problem.

On Friday, several FreeBSD volunteers combing through Microsoft products,
including the new Windows 2000 operating system, found numerous instances
where Microsoft had made use of their software -- something perfectly
legal for it to do. The Microsoft spokesman, in acknowledging that fact,
said it didn't contradict the company's many recent anti-open-source
statements. He said that's because Microsoft's main objection has been to
Linux, which has a more restrictive licensing arrangement than FreeBSD.

Microsoft, though, hasn't previously suggested that there were benign
forms of open-source software, and while singling out Linux for special
criticism, has tended to criticize all open-source with the same broad
brush.

In its campaign against open-source, Microsoft has been unable to come up
with examples of companies being harmed by it. One reason, said Eric von
Hippel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who heads up a
research effort in the field, is that virtually all the available evidence
suggests that open source is "a huge advantage" to companies. "They are
able to build on a common standard that is not owned by anyone," he said.
"With Windows, Microsoft owns them."

Write to Lee Gomes at lee.gomes at wsj.com