A Connecticut man known on the Internet as "illwill" pleaded guilty in
> Manhattan federal court on Monday to charges relating to the theft of
> the source code to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating software,
> considered among the company's crown jewels.
I believe IBM always made the source code available for its mainframe operating systems. Competitors could and would use it for supplemental utility programs. They would write links and exits to/from the operating system for maximum program efficiency.
If IBM can release it, why can't Microsoft?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess Microsoft _doesn't want_ to release their code, and no law says they have to. But as a matter of fact, they do release it to 'recognized developers' (not just, in street parlance, 'hackers') to work with provided the same recognized developers take a vow of total secrecy about their projects and require the same vows of secrecy from their employees, etc. PAT]