[pp.int.general] Why Free Software misses the point

[Brian McNeil [Wikinewsie]]

On Sat, 2010-05-15 at 08:53 -0400, Owen Kahn wrote:

> On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 8:15 AM, Fedor Khod'kov <fedor76 at istra.ru>
> wrote:


>         On the contrary, there are no learning courses on reading
>         binary form of
>         software and no translators (either specially trained human or
>         special
>         software) exist.  Reverse-engineering is not routine
>         activity.  That
>         means software in binary form isn't human-readable.

> Decompilers exist, as well as at least one textbook on reverse
> engineering.

I did it with eight and sixteen-bit machines - simply by reading a few
books; I did it with IBM mainframes, turning hex-encoded instructions
into mnemonic codes.

People make mod chips for games consoles; and that requires engaging in
'black arts' with multimeters, oscilloscopes, and a variety of other
tools. The closed source box that meets your "convenience" and
"functions as user wants" criteria weren't enough. The console creator
(i.e. a company) does not want you to have that functionality; it
threatens their opportunity to profit in other ways.

-- 
Brian McNeil [Wikinewsie] <brian.mcneil at wikinewsie.org>
http://www.wikinewsie.org | http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Brian_McNeil