Today Microsoft have halted the distribution of their tool which is aimed at making it easier to install Windows 7 on netbooks without a dvd drive. Microsoft pulled the USB/DVD Tool while it’s investigating allegations that the software makes improper use of open-source code.
This issue was first brought up last week by Windows blogger Rafael Rivera on his Within Windows Blog. Rivera claimed that this tool appears to use the code from a tool called Image master that is licensed under the GPLv2 open-source license. Under this license it allows the code to be freely used by anyone but it has it’s own terms and conditions for sharing and modifications to the code. This tool was released last month along with the release of Windows 7 and allowed users to take a downloadable copy of Windows 7 and make a bootable drive from it.
Courtesy: Cnet
Microsoft have confirmed they are looking into the matter and have taken the software off their store for the time being.
“Microsoft is looking into this issue and is taking down the (Windows 7 updating) tool from the Microsoft Store site until its review is complete,” the company said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”
This is a real inconvenience for netbook users who were relying on this software to install Windows 7 onto their machines. Microsoft have been working on trying to come up with a solution for these users for quite some time and this was what they came up with. Now with these allegations it looks like Netbook users will have to look for a different way to install Windows 7. Luckily we have a guide for that! See it here, Make sure you have a copy of the Windows 7 ISO handy and a 4GB USB Stick.
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