Dave Winer says: "Everyone's so worried about the Microsoft source leak. "It could open new security holes!" they say. But check this out, the source for Linux, a popular Microsoft competitor, has always been available, and this is promoted by its advocates saying it makes Linux more secure, not less."

That's true but Windows wasn't written to be open source. So there could be (and probably are) errors that are hidden because no one outside of Microsoft and its partners have seen the code. If there are security holes being discovered regularly without the code imagine how much easier it will be with it.

There's a whole class of developers that try to hack/break Windows just for the sheer challenge of it. The NY Times found that out when they interviewed virus writers recently. Would these guys turn into white hats to improve Windows security? Maybe some would but others would still like the "coolness" of creating a virus and seeing it reek havok. It's fun for them.

So sure, in the long run Windows could be more secure if the source was open. Let's say they released all of the Windows 2000 code under the GPL today. In the next few years we'd see more security exploits while all of the bugs were found by curious hackers. The nice ones would notify Microsoft and the evil ones would write damaging viruses for all of us to enjoy. The problems would eventually be fixed but it would be an incredibly painful period for Windows.

That's why Windows can never be open source even if they wanted it to be. There are just not enough Windows developer eyeballs at Microsoft to compete with all of the malicious hackers out there. Heck Windows is closed source right now and they can't respond quickly (see Microsoft Sits on Security Flaw for Six Months and 200 days to fix a broken Windows).

Bottom line: security by obscurity doesn't work very well. The Linux crowd has been preaching that for years. As soon as the code is released or leaked you have a major problem on your hands. The cat gets out of the bag and never returns.

Update 4:21am CNN reports that the leaked code is full of profanities. Does this surprise anyone in the software world? Not really. To outsiders though it might be publicly embarassing to Microsoft.