![]() ![]() "I suppose the third option would be no longer available. "Ultimately, I believe one of two things will happen: The tool will either be rewritten or open-sourced," said Rivera. Microsoft's tool grabbed code from the GPL-protected ImageMaster project, however.Īs to Microsoft's next step, the company was mum, although Rivera took a stab at its alternatives. "I'm not a GPL expert - the thing reads like Latin - but it is my understanding that the tool would have to be open-sourced, as required by GPL," Rivera said today in an interview conducted via instant messaging.Īctually, the algorithm in question originated with the open-source file archiving software, 7zip, which is licensed under the LGPL, or GNU Lesser General Public License, a software license published by the Free Software Foundation, said Rivera. Rivera said he was "99.9999% sure" that Microsoft used the open-source code within WUDT, and provided code examples to prove his point. Today, Microsoft declined to answer questions about the future of WUDT, including whether it would re-release the tool at some point, and whether the utility had been removed from its site because of the GPL brouhaha that Rivera instigated. Microsoft has previously released several code modules under GPL, including the Live Services Plug-in for Moodle last July. ![]() GPL is a widely-used free software license that was originally drafted by Richard Stallman of the GNU project. Rivera, who writes the Within Windows blog, said Microsoft had "obviously lifted" code from the ImageMaster project, and had then compounded the problem by not sharing the source code for its modifications, or the tool itself, to the project, as required by the terms of GPL (GNU General Public License). Microsoft's move was prompted by Rafael Rivera's claim last Friday that WUDT included code gleaned from a GPLv2-licensed open-source project. "We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience." A blank USB flash drive or external hard drive with at least 8 GB of space, or a blank DVD (and DVD burner). A USB flash drive, external hard drive, or DVD. The download time will vary, depending on your internet connection. "We are currently looking into this issue and are taking down WUDT from the Microsoft Store site until our investigations are complete," a Microsoft spokeswoman said in an instant message reply to questions Tuesday. To create the installation media, here's what you'll need: A PC with a reliable internet connection. ![]()
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