Today I am starting a series of posts in which I will post some interesting tit-bits about Microsoft. Mostly past stuff. I will prefix these posts with “Microsoft Museum” and tag them the same for easy search ability. The idea is to have light hearted and interesting posts about Microsoft. The ones that you read and go “…oh yes, I remember that…”.  Hope you enjoy them.

So here is the first piece for my museum. Back in February 2004 Neowin broke the story that Windows 2000 and NT 4 source code was leaked on the internet. The story was legitimized by Microsoft posting a response on their site which went something like this:

REDMOND, Wash., Updated, Feb. 20, 2004 — On Thursday, February 12, Microsoft became aware that portions of the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 source code were illegally made available on the Internet. Subsequent investigation has shown this was not the result of any breach of Microsofts corporate network or internal security, nor is it related to Microsofts Shared Source Initiative or its Government Security Program, which enable our customers and partners, as well as governments, to legally access Microsoft source code. Microsoft reaffirms its support for both the Shared Source Initiative and the Government Security Program.

Microsoft continues to work closely with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement authorities on this matter. Microsoft source code is both copyrighted and protected as a trade secret. As such, it is illegal to post it, make it available to others, download it or use it. Microsoft will take all appropriate legal actions to protect its intellectual property. These actions include communicating both directly and indirectly with those who possess or seek to possess, post, download or share the illegally disclosed source code.