As the damage caused by the The CrowdStrike disaster begins to dissipate Questions are being asked around the world about how this kind of situation could have happened. The biggest question was how a third-party update could have bricked millions of Windows PCs, with Microsoft unable to do anything about it. It turns out that in 2009, the company agreed to give third parties kernel-level access to its operating system via security software, which it now claims is not only the root cause of the problem, but could happen again.
The new round of accusations from Microsoft was made public in a Wall Street Journal article. article In this article, Microsoft was asked why it can’t isolate its kernel like Apple does. In 2020, Apple removed kernel-level access for third parties, requiring them all to rewrite their software to work properly on macOS. Microsoft told the Journal it couldn’t do this because, in 2009, it reached an agreement with the European Commission to give third parties the same level of access as to Microsoft’s own applications — meaning all the way down to the kernel.
Windows is used on the majority of computers in the world, so it's not easy for Microsoft to start enforcing stricter standards without causing a lot of problems for developers.
Credit: StatCounter
In the Journal article, which requires paid access, a Microsoft representative says it cannot legally cut off access to the core of its operating system because of this agreement. According According to The Guardian, the agreement stems from the 2004 antitrust case against Microsoft, which forced the company to open up agreements between its software and third parties to make them more “interoperable.” The situation culminated in the 2009 agreement.
While there are comparisons between Apple and Microsoft, it's not a direct comparison, pardon the pun, given the size of the Windows market compared to macOS. Almost every computer in the world runs Windows, which has a vast ecosystem of third-party software, not to mention all the various types of hardware that must interact with this software. StatCounter says Windows controls nearly 74% of the global operating system market share, while macOS has about 13%. That makes it much easier for Apple to be strict with its rules on kernel access, something that is difficult for a company of Microsoft's size to do.
Whether the EU deal will be revised in the wake of the CrowdStrike situation remains to be seen, but giving the security software low-level access so it can be updated quickly makes sense. The Register reports He has asked Microsoft whether it will reconsider its agreement with the EC in light of last week's disaster, but has not yet received a response.
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