---
title: "Microsoft Is Hiding Source Code in an Apocalypse-Proof Cave"
description: "Microsoft-owned GitHub dumped physical copies of the world's open source code in an apocalypse-proof vault to save it for when society collapses."
date: "2019-11-14"
modified: "2019-11-14"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/microsoft-hiding-source-code-apocalypse-cave"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "apocalypse"
  - "microsoft"
  - "open source"
  - "the digest"
---

# Microsoft Is Hiding Source Code in an Apocalypse-Proof Cave

![Microsoft-owned Github dumped physical copies of the world's open source code in an apocalypse-proof vault to save it for when society collapses.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/microsoft-hiding-source-code-apocalypse-proof-cave.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Frode Ramone\</em\>*

## Hard Copy

Next to the famous [Global Seed Vault](<https://futurism.com/doomsday-seed-vault-upgrades>) in Svalbard, Norway, is an abandoned coal mine protecting a different kind of resource against the end of the world: all of GitHub's [open source code](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-11-13/microsoft-apocalypse-proofs-open-source-code-in-an-arctic-cave>).

Now, if the world ends, whatever survivors crawl out of the ashes will be able to access and use the software behind modern-day tech, perhaps on that weird [post-apocalyptic operating system](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/operating-system-computers-salvaged-world-ends>) that some coders unveiled last month.

## Rebuilding Records

Since 2017, the Arctic World Archive, as it's called, has stored other digital records, including the Vatican archives, movies, and anything else deemed worth saving, [according to a new *Bloomberg* feature](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-11-13/microsoft-apocalypse-proofs-open-source-code-in-an-arctic-cave>).

And now, with Microsoft-owned GitHub's contribution, it also holds a hard copy of nearly all the open source software in the world, which can be read with nothing more than a magnifying lens.

## Precautionary Tale

The open source community is often dismissed as a fringe group of tech idealists, but much of the digital architecture with which we interact every day technically falls under the broad umbrella of publicly available open source code, *Bloomberg* reports. Think Facebook, Google, and Amazon — all of them rely on it.

So, while GitHub's data dump seems like — and probably partially is — a bit of a stunt, it could someday prove useful if a catastrophe wipes out the world's hard drives.

**READ MORE:** [Open Source Code Will Survive the Apocalypse in an Arctic Cave](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-11-13/microsoft-apocalypse-proofs-open-source-code-in-an-arctic-cave>) \[*Bloomberg*\]

**More on the end of days:** *[To Prevent the Apocalypse, MIT Says to Study "Machine Behavior"](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-apocalypse-study-machine-behaviour>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)