Microsoft Yanks Windows 7 Download Tool

Microsoft has pulled the Windows 7 download tool from its online store do to GPL allegations.

Consumers wanting to upgrade to Windows 7--and don't have an optical drive--may be out of luck for a while. According to CNET, Microsoft has pulled the Windows USB/DVD Tool from its online Microsoft Store due to allegations that it makes improper use of open-source code. Microsoft said that it is now conducting an investigation on the matter.

"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."

The allegations appeared last week by Rafael Rivera on his Within Windows blog. He said that Microsoft's tool uses code from the Codeplex-hosted Image Master project which is licensed under the General Public License v2. Rivera says that Microsoft violates the GPL because it did not offer or provide source code for the modifications. Microsoft also "glued in some of their own licensing terms," he said.

Rivera initially reported that he grew suspicious of the tool while poking through its code. "I had a weird feeling there was just wayyyyyyyyy too much code in there for such a simple tool," he said. Currently there's no word on when the Windows 7 tool will return to the online store.