Microsoft agrees to spill Windows beans to Japanese government

The move is a response to an aggressive push by IBM Japan to sell systems to the central and local authorities which use open source Linux software.

Microsoft is determined to beat IBM and Linux in the important Japanese market and will disclose some of the code under its "Shared Source Initiative".

It has already disclosed parts of the code to the Swiss, the Swedish and the US government, and the newspaper reports, has also shown its crown jewels to some major corporations.

But under the terms of the "Shared Source Initiative", governments and corporations aren't allowed to fiddle with the code.

But Microsoft may be too late - the minister of public management said last week that in 2003 open source operating systems will be viewed with favour. µ

See Also
Microsoft to make Japanese ministers sign non disclosure agreements