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32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

theregister.co.uk

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Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#81
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>Compressed, it is ~8TB. But what data does this 8TB refer to specifically? Is this the source + all the windows builds from a plethora of sources? Did you download 8TB of data from BA and expand it to 32TB or was this a figure provided to you by one of the raided hackers or their associates? >think the bigger issue is not the final size, but that internal Microsoft material - particularly source code - has escaped i…

It's 32TB of deduplicated data. You've to download the whole 32TB actually

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be helpful to the reactos and wine folks if unofficially.

Actually the opposite. They can't work in the project of they've seen the actual MS code even if they write their own code.

Why is that?

You can break patents without ever knowing the patent existed. So looking at this code wouldn't trigger a new patent problem.

And simply looking at some code, closing it, then later writing code that does the same functionality is not breaking copyright. So looking at this code would not trigger copyright.

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#83

Looks like the WINE developers are going to have the time of their lives.

I vaguely remember that either the Wine or the ReactOS developers rewrote parts of their source a while after Win2k source leak in 2004, because there were some contributors who had been exposed to Microsoft's source code, and a rewrite of the parts those devs had touched was apparently the only way to make sure they were "clean".

IIRC, they had to go through some trouble to find people for that rewrite who had not looked at Microsoft's source code AND the parts of the Wine/ReactOS source code that needed to be rewritten.

So I am convinced that they will make extra sure not to even get in the position where someone could imply they might have looked at that source code.

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. A few years ago the ReactOS developers had to stop all development for several months to perform a source code audit. This was meant to deflect accusations that they had derived code from disassembled Windows binaries. If anything, this could make their legal situation more sticky.

That's unfortunate and doesn't fit my understanding of the situation - is disassembling a binary not fair game, in the same way that Samsung buying an iPhone and cracking it open is? (Assuming we're worried about copyright and not patents).

IANAL, but as far as I understand the situation it is not. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_wall#Reverse_engineeri...

But IIUC, clean room reverse engineering requires substantial effort to prove you did not take any shortcuts.

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows Shared Source initiative has existed for what, over 10 years now? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sharedsource/ I think this "leak" is greatly exhagerated.

None of those categories seem to include ordinary developers though?

Even community MVPs get access to this stuff.

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#86
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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?

Looks like the 32TB size reported is the total size of all the various Windows installation images, prior to de-dupe. 8TB after de-dupe. Not a very useful figure, however.

https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=420025#p42...

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#87
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>Compressed, it is ~8TB. But what data does this 8TB refer to specifically? Is this the source + all the windows builds from a plethora of sources? Did you download 8TB of data from BA and expand it to 32TB or was this a figure provided to you by one of the raided hackers or their associates? >think the bigger issue is not the final size, but that internal Microsoft material - particularly source code - has escaped i…

It's ~8TBs of deduplicated Windows installation media. The Shared Source Initiative material only amounts to ~1.2 GB, if that.

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#88
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the opposite. They can't work in the project of they've seen the actual MS code even if they write their own code.

Why is that? You can break patents without ever knowing the patent existed. So looking at this code wouldn't trigger a new patent problem. And simply looking at some code, closing it, then later writing code that does the same functionality is not breaking copyright. So looking at this code would not trigger copyright.

Clean room reverse engineering. The idea that, if you build something with a specified interface (Windows API in this case) without prior knowledge of the implementation details, and you haven't broken any patents in doing so, then you haven't broken copyright either and you are free to do business. This is a gross oversimplification. See Intel vs AMD case for more details.

Re: 32TB of Windows 10 internal builds, core source code leak online

#89
post #52
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Exp…

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?

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.

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