[OpenBIOS] New power-up graphics BIOS.

[Gavin R. Brewer]

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-openbios at freiburg.linux.de
[mailto:owner-openbios at freiburg.linux.de]On Behalf Of Matthew Sullivan
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 5:09 AM
To: openbios at elvis.informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Subject: Re: [OpenBIOS] New power-up graphics BIOS.

>Maybe it is but there was a lot of dicussion about BIOS's and reverse
engineering and
>'clean rooming' before on this list and if I remember rightly a list member
having
>trained/part trained as a lawyer warned us about reverse engineering and
copying of
>code.

Fair play, but when you decompile and reverse engineer, THEN port to another
platform, who has the slightest shred of proof?

>If memory serves me the problem comes down to if you have read the code and
any of
>the code matches the original it can be deemed that you have copied it...

Fair enough, but what if two people from opposite sides of the globe come up
with nearly identical designs and thus source code? Then you start having
silly competetive ego-battles galore. (I dont think Richard Stallman would
approve..)

>however if
>you have never seen/read the code and write the exact same instructions you
can
>legally use it....

People decompile all the time in firms and such. Why make a secret of it?
Mind you, I am a EFF hacktivist, so that goes without saying..

>The hard part is proving how you wrote the code,

The Law sux in this respect. I get sick of Micro$oft running the US, and the
US running the world like the 51st state of America. What happened to the
Hacker Ethic? Died when M$ was born?

>without seeing/reading  the original...

Grrr...now THAT is the old argument that really p!%%#s me off. When you
obtain source code, you get an executable file. Are you telling me that it
is *wrong* to look at the executable source, to admire it's wonderful
engineering etc. etc.?

How can you patent Mathematics? After all, is that what design principles,
algorithms and data structures come down to in the end anyhow?

I'll tell you what they are: DISCRETE MATHEMATICS.

And if anyone wants to patent the sacred platonic purity of D.M., they ought
to be shoved in a loony-bin somewhere...The whole matter is a contradiction
in terms, if you ask me.

Yours,
		Gavin.

PS. Please dont take any of the above personally. d:-)

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