> Reverse engineering in terms of software involves studying source code to see how it works
That is simply wrong.
> The WINE developers are producing a new, Linux based implentation for the Windows API, without studying Windows source code -- there is no reverse-engineering involved. They are simply implementing the Windows API.
> > As I understand it the essence of Wine is reverse engineering the Windows DLLs.
> You might understand it that way, but you'd be wrong. All Wine does is implement the published API of Windows using Linux commands.
And that's exactly what reverse engineering is.
If you have a gadget (or program) and I want to make one that does exactly the same thing, but do it by figuring it out rather than by working off your blueprint (or source code), then I'm reverse engineering it.
> Actually, Coulter has had her article de-syndicated from a variety of publications. And that's on top of the occasional speaking engagement that gets canceled.
> His client, California resident Karen Futernick, alleges in the suit that she purchased "A Million Little Pieces" on that basis [...] Ayup. $50 Million dollars because she bought a book marked as non-fiction that was actually fictional.
> I've quite impressed with the performance of WINE
As I understand it the essence of Wine is reverse engineering the Windows DLLs. In principle getting comparative performance shouldn't be any particular challenge. Especially if Microsoft's reputation for producing bloated slopware is accurate.
> Ok, so I'm a researcher, and you've given me the freedom from patent restrictions to allow me to go ahead with my research and Company XYZ can't stop me because it's for "research" and not personal gain. Don't I eventually end up becoming a de facto researcher for Company XYZ? They still hold the patents and could make use of my research to improve their products, couldn't they? And where's the economic incentive for me to do this research?
Surely you can patent something that depends on another patent? If so, patent your work and license the piggyback patent to whoever wants to use it in conjunction with their license of the original patent.
Or even if not... Time your research to finish about the time their patent expires, and then apply for your piggyback patent.
Data security scheme is cracked as soon as examples become available - whoda thought it?
Haven't these people been watching the travails of the DRM industry? What kind of ignorance (or arrogance) leads someone to think they can build a portable data repository that won't get cracked?
> Could it be that the evidence for evolution is pretty solid, the evidence for dark matter is a bit shaky and the evidence for global warming is shakier still?
I wonder what percentage of Slashdotters even know what the evidence is.
I wonder what he means by "prefers". Is it more fun to sit around reading someone's crappy code than to use the trial-and-error approach crackers use with closed-source software?
The empirical evidence suggests that people don't have an especial lot of trouble cracking CSS.
I guess if you have the source you can grep for reads and examine them for overflow vulnerabilities, but I wonder how much easier even that would be vs. just trying it.
How come most Slashdotters claim to be fans of science, but about 20% reject science when it comes to creationism, 50% when it comes to dark matter/energy, and 80% when it comes to global warming?
> Anyone read about a thing called the Ice Age? what caused that, and why arent we still in it?
I've read one article by a scientist who claims that we should be slipping into an ice age right now, but anthropogenic warming is preventing it, (indeed, overcompensating).
> I'm not sure if I feel sorry for these people or myself. These people will be dead in 30-40 years so not see the worse of it, I on the other hand have another 50-60 if I keep myself in a good condition. If the current models are correct I should exprience quite extreme weather by the time I get old enough for a brisk cold to be quite risky for my heatlh.
> Profit comes before damage if you're not going to live to see the damage it's self.
It shows how much they love their children too.
More likely it's just an example of the human mind's ability to shut itself down when money is involved.
> Here in New York (USA), the energy sector has been decentralized, so we can choose our suppliers for electricity. I've chosen one that is entirely based on wind and hydro power. Sure, it costs me an extra $10-$20/month, but it is one small thing that _I_ can do.
Unfortunately I don't remember the details, I saw a news story a few weeks back that said that people who made that choice in whatever region they were talking about finally started coming out ahead money-wise, and they were having a lottery for the remaining sign-up slots because everyone was wanting to jump on board.
> In old times when StB guys (= Czech version of KGB) trained their agents to defeat polygraph, the instruction went like this: "Imagine some very embarassing moment, some fact about you, something you did that would discredit you, something you do not want to be ever revealed. You don't say what it is but bring it up vividly in your memory when you are answering the easy control questions."
Nowadays you just visualize the best pron you've ever downloaded, and the needles go crazy.
> Almost anything works better than a polygraph. They have a ridiculously high rate of false-positives and false-negatives. What's more ridiculous is that many US govt agencies, despite ample scientific proof, still use polygraphs.
Maybe they're just using them to scare the guilty into confessing, or scare dishonest people from applying.
Slashdot Mirror
> Reverse engineering in terms of software involves studying source code to see how it works
That is simply wrong.
> The WINE developers are producing a new, Linux based implentation for the Windows API, without studying Windows source code -- there is no reverse-engineering involved. They are simply implementing the Windows API.
I.e., they are reverse engineering the DLLs.
> > As I understand it the essence of Wine is reverse engineering the Windows DLLs.
> You might understand it that way, but you'd be wrong. All Wine does is implement the published API of Windows using Linux commands.
And that's exactly what reverse engineering is.
If you have a gadget (or program) and I want to make one that does exactly the same thing, but do it by figuring it out rather than by working off your blueprint (or source code), then I'm reverse engineering it.
> Actually, Coulter has had her article de-syndicated from a variety of publications. And that's on top of the occasional speaking engagement that gets canceled.
Ah, I misread that as "spanking" engagement.
> His client, California resident Karen Futernick, alleges in the suit that she purchased "A Million Little Pieces" on that basis [...] Ayup. $50 Million dollars because she bought a book marked as non-fiction that was actually fictional.
Hey, that's only 50 dollars per piece.
> I've quite impressed with the performance of WINE
As I understand it the essence of Wine is reverse engineering the Windows DLLs. In principle getting comparative performance shouldn't be any particular challenge. Especially if Microsoft's reputation for producing bloated slopware is accurate.
My lab has identified these:
I. scream
P. tsa
K. kuh
D. pfryd
> Ok, so I'm a researcher, and you've given me the freedom from patent restrictions to allow me to go ahead with my research and Company XYZ can't stop me because it's for "research" and not personal gain. Don't I eventually end up becoming a de facto researcher for Company XYZ? They still hold the patents and could make use of my research to improve their products, couldn't they? And where's the economic incentive for me to do this research?
Surely you can patent something that depends on another patent? If so, patent your work and license the piggyback patent to whoever wants to use it in conjunction with their license of the original patent.
Or even if not... Time your research to finish about the time their patent expires, and then apply for your piggyback patent.
> I want to be able to sit down with the numbers and see what happens to the F-measure when I slide beta between zero and one.
What page of the Kama Sutra are you referring to? I can't find any of that stuff in the index.
Data security scheme is cracked as soon as examples become available - whoda thought it?
Haven't these people been watching the travails of the DRM industry? What kind of ignorance (or arrogance) leads someone to think they can build a portable data repository that won't get cracked?
> Could it be that the evidence for evolution is pretty solid, the evidence for dark matter is a bit shaky and the evidence for global warming is shakier still?
I wonder what percentage of Slashdotters even know what the evidence is.
> Anyone want to explain what this 'fuzzing' is?
For teenagers it means to skip shaving for a few days.
Not sure how that helps crack software, though. Maybe it gives you a 1337 look that inspires more experienced crackers to share their secrets.
I wonder what he means by "prefers". Is it more fun to sit around reading someone's crappy code than to use the trial-and-error approach crackers use with closed-source software?
The empirical evidence suggests that people don't have an especial lot of trouble cracking CSS.
I guess if you have the source you can grep for reads and examine them for overflow vulnerabilities, but I wonder how much easier even that would be vs. just trying it.
> Is this an evolutionary restraint on nerds breeding?
If so it would be redundant, given how rarely nerds breed to begin with.
How come most Slashdotters claim to be fans of science, but about 20% reject science when it comes to creationism, 50% when it comes to dark matter/energy, and 80% when it comes to global warming?
> Anyone read about a thing called the Ice Age? what caused that, and why arent we still in it?
I've read one article by a scientist who claims that we should be slipping into an ice age right now, but anthropogenic warming is preventing it, (indeed, overcompensating).
> In other words Hand Picked without controlling for bias.
That's not what collate means.
> I'm not sure if I feel sorry for these people or myself. These people will be dead in 30-40 years so not see the worse of it, I on the other hand have another 50-60 if I keep myself in a good condition. If the current models are correct I should exprience quite extreme weather by the time I get old enough for a brisk cold to be quite risky for my heatlh.
> Profit comes before damage if you're not going to live to see the damage it's self.
It shows how much they love their children too.
More likely it's just an example of the human mind's ability to shut itself down when money is involved.
> Exactly, what are these folks not seeing when it comes to denying global warming?
They want to run their countries to maximize their supporters' quarterly profit reports, grandchildren be damned.
> Here in New York (USA), the energy sector has been decentralized, so we can choose our suppliers for electricity. I've chosen one that is entirely based on wind and hydro power. Sure, it costs me an extra $10-$20/month, but it is one small thing that _I_ can do.
Unfortunately I don't remember the details, I saw a news story a few weeks back that said that people who made that choice in whatever region they were talking about finally started coming out ahead money-wise, and they were having a lottery for the remaining sign-up slots because everyone was wanting to jump on board.
> In old times when StB guys (= Czech version of KGB) trained their agents to defeat polygraph, the instruction went like this: "Imagine some very embarassing moment, some fact about you, something you did that would discredit you, something you do not want to be ever revealed. You don't say what it is but bring it up vividly in your memory when you are answering the easy control questions."
Nowadays you just visualize the best pron you've ever downloaded, and the needles go crazy.
> It's going to be pretty useless in determining which political cannidate is lying.
Just ask whether they're a politician - either answer indicates that they're a liar.
> I'd like to see the Enron execs hooked up to this thing for a little Q&A.
A lot of people would rather see them hooked up to a car battery.
> Almost anything works better than a polygraph. They have a ridiculously high rate of false-positives and false-negatives. What's more ridiculous is that many US govt agencies, despite ample scientific proof, still use polygraphs.
Maybe they're just using them to scare the guilty into confessing, or scare dishonest people from applying.
> Girls: It's a trap!
Yes, "it" is precisely the kind of trap that makes guys beat a path to their doors.
> I haven't WTFV yet
Neither have I, but I've PTFG.