I can only agree with Bill Thoen 100%.
It should be the author of an MBX's choice if the source code is supplied or
not.
As developers we are already struggling with decompilers in the .NET world,
which makes it harder to protect our intellectual property. We don't need
another one accessible to everybody for mapbasic, even if my personal
investment in this area is much more limited.
Regards
Uffe Kousgaard
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Thoen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: [MI-L] MBX documentation
Speaking as a MapBasic developer who has a considerable investment in
MapBasic applications and has clients who have invested even more to pay
me to build applications for them, I see no real advantage to releasing
information to the public about how to decompile an MBX. If you have lost
your source, and can prove the MBX is yours, Joe Bolian of Stopwatch Maps
has offered to decompile it for you for free. Outside of recovering lost
source code I see no good reason to empower any yahoo with a tool to open
up my code like a can of beans. It's not *that* easy to create a
decompiler, and I wouldn't want to see anyone who can't do it just given
the information to make it easy to steal my code and compromise my
clients' investments. By giving away the secrets you soften up the
environment for anyone to build a serious project based on MapBasic and
will only bring about its end that much quicker.
I think that MapBasic has at least a couple more years of useful
commercial life to it, and it is very likely that old MBX applications
will still run in the .NET environment for years beyond that. Of course,
if your goal is to destroy MapBasic as a tool to build commercial
applications, and force us all to move to more advanced languages and
techniques, then go for it. I would abandon MapBasic pretty fast as a
development tool if a decompiler was made available to the public. And for
those who can't move on to more complicated and expensive software
development solutions, you would simply be exposing them to all sorts of
abuse from theft of their ideas up to and including loading a virus into
thier MBXs.
What possible good would it do to make sorcerer's apprentices of anyone
whose heart has not been purifeid by the long quest to learn the lore for
themselves? ;-)
- Bill Thoen
Joutsiniemi Anssi wrote:
Since the MB doesn't seem to be that chic any longer, I thought maybe I
could
release my notes on MBX-file format as well. I know there is plenty of
delicate issues concerning the copyrights of compiled code and also some
private money bound to it too. That is little strainge though, since most
of
us know that it is rather easy to built a decompiler and at least three of
them exists too (search List Archive if you like). Also some more valuable
use can be thought for the documentation. For
example, currently the only compiler is the one that is provided by the
Corp.
and it significantly affects for third party development. Does anybody
there
across the ocean know where they are heading to? I naturally don't want to
make enemy with them. I'm looking neither profit nor new jobs (since I got
plenty) for this and consider this just as an act for creating new
potential
for more advanced usage.
I guess the tweaking other peoples code isn't that big of a thread, since
the
profound slowness of a MB code forces people truly developing software to
use
DLL's and stuff anyway. People capable of programming it from
documentation
most likelly wouldn't find any usefull from the tiny snippets of code
available anyway. I have never made a dime by selling program code, but I
know some of you have, so basicly I'm interested to hear points of view
that
havent crossed my mind. If my initial idea of release is concidered
terribly
hostile or semi-criminal among you I'm happy to draw back this too.
Please, keep the discussion open in List, if possible.
Hard rock hallelujah
Anssi
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