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TECH UPDATE
Windows source code leaks on to internet
Microsoft has admitted that parts of the source code, or software blueprint, for its closely-guarded Windows programs had leaked onto internet, possibly exposing its products to hackers and illicit copying.
Microsoft said that copies of the source code from its Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems were being traded over internet, but that the copies comprised a tiny portion of the millions of lines of code used to create its cash cow products.
Source code is the intellectual property and lifeblood of any software company, since it is the basic language used to create software programs. Microsoft has only shared its source code with close partners and carefully chosen organizations, with legal agreements that threaten litigation in the event of that any of is leaked. The level of secrecy around the code is akin to that around the formula used in Coca-Cola Co.’s soft drinks.
“It’s illegal for third parties to post Microsoft source code, and we take such activity very seriously,” Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla said in a statement.
“We are currently investigating these postings and are working with the appropriate law-enforcement authorities.”
The code appeared to come from an unidentified software developer with access to Microsoft’s code. Software companies that create programs running on Windows need access to source code to build their own products.
One main risk in having source code exposed to the public is the possibility that hackers could break into computers running Windows NT or Windows 2000 and destroy or steal data.
Although the company said that was unlikely, given the relatively small portion of code that had been circulating, a greater risk could come from others using the code as a base for developing software that competes with Windows.
Supercomputer for research.
The Research Centre Juelich in Germany gets Europe’s most powerful supercomputer on Feb 16. The IBM computer, based on eServer p690 systems, will be capable of a peak performance of 8.9 teraflops — the equivalent of 8.9 trillion floating point operations per second.
Juelich is one of the three national supercomputing centres in Germany along with the High Performance Computing Centre in Stuttgart (HLRS) and the Leibniz Computing Centre (LRZ) in Munich. It is one of Europe’s leading scientific institutes. Its research activities cover five key areas: matter, energy, information technology, life, and environment. scientists often encounter.
The supercomputer has 1312 processors provided by 41 IBM p690 servers with 32 processors per unit, using the POWER4+ copper/SOI technology. The cluster is managed by IBM’s Cluster Systems Management (CSM) software based on AIX 5.2 — the company’s flagship Unix operating system. Cluster nodes interconnect via the newly announced pSeries High Performance Switch providing a redundant low latency and high bandwidth communication network to all processors — with a bandwidth of more than 100 Gb/s per server. Each system has access to several parallel filesystems based on IBM’s General Parallel Filesystem (GPFS) software using latest Storage Area Network technology powered by the FAStT Storage Server product line. Users have access to 60 tera bytes of data capacity — the equivalent of 60 trillion bytes, or roughly 60 million 1000-page-books. — Sci-tech World Report
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