Microsoft has introduced a programme to allow national governments
to inspect its Windows source code and software development
procedures.
Craig Mundie, chief technical officer at Microsoft, said the
programme was designed to provide governments with information they
need to conduct security reviews of Microsoft products.
IT staff within central government would be invited to visit
Microsoft development centres in Redmond to examine Windows
development, testing and deployment processes, and to discuss
projects with Microsoft security experts.
Last year, company chairman Bill Gates said the Windows source code
represented Microsoft's key intellectual property. During the
long-running anti-trust trial the company fiercely resisted demands
to hand over source code to competitors.
The news comes on the first anniversary of Microsoft's Trustworthy
Computing initiative. Microsoft plans to take Trustworthy Computing
beyond its internal focus in the next 12 months and bring security
to the larger developer community.
Microsoft launched the scheme last year to make security inherent
in every product it develops.
Microsoft chief security officer Stuart Okin said almost every
development team in the company has attended training courses on
writing more secure code and handling security breaches in the past
year.
"We are trying to bring a consistent approach to handling security
across different products," he said. "The Windows and Office teams
are working on a common way to patch software."
Okin added that Microsoft would work to ensure sample code on its
developer support, Microsoft Developer Network, reflected best
practices in security. "We will put our official curriculum into
the public domain."