From the time it was announced to when it was discovered that Microsoft used open source code in WUDT without following proper license guidelines, we, we being mostly Samuel with a little of Ashraf sweeping in to take credit like a punk, have covered Microsoft’s new Windows USB/DVD Download Tool (which allows users to install Windows 7 easily from a USB/flash drive).

Because of the code thievery allegations, Microsoft promised to conduct an “internal investigation” to the learn dah’ true truth. Well as promised, Microsoft conducted an “internal investigation” on the allegations that WUDT includes open source code, and have concluded the allegations are true. Therefore, as per an official blog post by Peter Galli, the Open Source Community Manager at Microsoft,  Microsoft has issued an apology and will now offer the source code for WUDT as per the GNU GPLv2 guidelines:

After looking at the code in question, we are now able to confirm this [usage of open source code] was indeed the case, although it was not intentional on our part. While we had contracted with a third party to create the tool, we share responsibility as we did not catch it as part of our code review process. We have furthermore conducted a review of other code provided through the  Microsoft Store and this was the only incident of this sort we could find.

When it comes to our attention that a Microsoft component contains third party code, our aim is to be respectful of the terms under which that code is being shared. As a result, we will be making the source code as well as binaries for this tool available next week under the terms of the General Public License v2 as described here, and are also taking measures to apply what we have learned from this experience for future code reviews we perform.

Dum, dum, dum. Now I only need to save 15% or more on my car insurance by switching to Geico and my life will be complete. Yes, I am old enough to drive. Barely.

[via PCMag]

Thanks Samuel!