Free with Open Source ;)
I think that 90% of us would view a decompilier as a benefit to "excite the programmer" in us and to be able to gain ideas for possible modifications to our own code, etc. It's the 10%, however, that ruin it for all. Like the programmers who waste time sitting around programming vindictive source code for viruses - when they could be better used for programming other types of useful tools, etc. That said, I think that it is better viewed as having Open Source code (rather than a decompilier) available for free in the future... for example, standard code for certain functions that are usable over and over again and can "plug and play" into other applications. That would protect those who have worked so hard to have a custom tool with custom code. Just my $1 input (standard .02, plus 10% tax, and adjusted for the increase in gas prices) Ross E. Bagwell GIS Manager, Business Intelligence Vanco USA -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Ian Erickson Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 9:45 AM To: Bill Thoen Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MI-L] MBX documentation Bill Thoen wrote: >On Tue, May 30, 2006 at 08:49:47PM -0600, Richard Greenwood wrote: > > >>I would encourage you to share your your documentation of the MBX >>format. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Information are held up as >>corner stones of democracy and civil liberties. ... >> >> > >But where do you stand on the issue of free speech when such speech >endamgers or hurts others? Like shouting "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, >or slandering someone to damage their reputation, or simply lying for >personal gain. Surely those examples are universally recognized as a >reasonable limit on the freedom of speech. > > Certainly I agree with Bill's sentiment, there are recognizable limits to free speech - and for everytime I've been in a darkened theater - no one has ever yelled "FIRE!" Perhaps it's the innate knowledge the doing so could cause irreperable harm and injury to another. Again, this is the "glass half full" approach to life that I've taken - perhaps that's just me be naive again. I would hope that those in this community recognize the efforts of some on this list as more than just casual MapBasic users - some make a living off of providing sound, usable code for a profit - to steal their code would literally be stealing food off their table. >The idea of spreading knowledge on how to build a decompiler for MBX >excites and interests the hacker in me, but at the same time that knowledge >in the wrong hands could easily damage my business if any of my programs >were reverse engineered or worse, my clients lost faith in MapBasic >development and stopped offering me contracts. > > Certainly, the capacity to build a decompiler and learn the in's and out's of how it's done would excite the programmer in all of us. Our company develops applications in MapBasic, and in many instances we have used native MapBasic as the sole language for our development. In others, it's painfully clear where MapBasic stumbles - a tree-based navigation control for example is one area where we have had to use Delphi to "fill in the gaps" where MapBasic cannot muster the strength. I'll preface the following comment and say that less than 10% of what we do is in MapBasic so perhaps I'm not the best person to speak of how it might impact the revenue stream of our business, but... I can't remember a time when we've done something truly unique with MapBasic. MapBasic is significantly limited in a lot of respects - try XML parsing in MapBasic for example - it's woefully slow and probably a reason why the 8.5 version of MapInfo Pro will expose XML parsing capability in MapBasic. Up until this point it's been necessary to use outside XML parsers to get any reasonable amount of speed (and I'm talking in terms of 10 seconds in MB versus 0.5 with MSXMLDOM for example). For the most part, MB is really nothing more than a bunch of for....next loops, if-then-else statements, and the occasional spatial operation - I would argue that for the most part, it's already been done with MapBasic - and if it hasn't, there's someone on this list who can give you an answer in about 30 minutes. >However, I think this knowledge should get out eventually -- indeed it >would be naive to think that it won't -- but I'd like some time to get >ready for it. Say, about three to six months. This would give developers >some time to implement some measure of protection for their commercial >MBX applications while not closing the door on the possibilities that a >decompiler could offer. > > Now I'll end this counter-point by saying that I really don't have a vested interest either way. I stand to gain nothing from a decompiler (except in the rare instance that I forgot where I put the source code), and if it makes others sleep well at night, then by all means we shouldn't encourage the release of notes on a decompiler. But, I have to say that if there's something that the MapInfo development community does well it's innovate. So what would we all pay for a code obfusctaor: $20, $100, $500, $2,000? - Ian Erickson _______________________________________________ MapInfo-L mailing list [email protected] http://www.directionsmag.com/mailman/listinfo/mapinfo-l ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. 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