Microsoft announced the GSP initiative in January in an effort to quell debates over whether open source code has a security advantage over closed code. GSP was created after government officials told Microsoft that security was a "primary concern" and that they wanted access to source code and Windows technical information and the ability to collaborate.
China follows Russia, the United Kingdom and NATO in signing up to Microsoft's programme. Participating governments get online access to source code, an engineering-level understanding of Windows architecture, the ability to build more secure environments and access to cryptographic code and development tools. However, governments won't get the ability to alter source code. The programme covers current versions, service packs and beta releases of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows CE.
According to the company, Microsoft Corp. is engaged in talks with 30 other governments to sign the agreement. The agreement with China had been under discussion for several months. Microsoft has pledged to invest 750 million dollars in China over three years in an effort to embrace one of the world's fastest growing technology markets.
In 2002, the open-source Linux system has an 8.8 per cent share of the global operating system server market. Windows' share was 69.1 per cent. Experts project these figures to change to around 30 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively, by 2006. Linux has encroached on Microsoft in France, Peru and Germany, among other countries.
Quelle: EurActiv
