[Asterisk-Users] Re: www.openpbx.org

[Paul]

Mike M wrote:

>On Sat, Oct 08, 2005 at 10:43:28PM -0400, Paul wrote:
>  
>
>>Steve Underwood wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>It's not harder. It's just different. A number of things have similar 
>>>requirements. The ISDN4Linux folk have certain versions of their 
>>>software approved by the telecoms bodies in Europe. They need to tie 
>>>down exactly what was approved, so any other versions emit a notice 
>>>that says they are unapproved versions. They do this with a signature 
>>>on the approved version. It seems to work out OK.
>>>      
>>>
>
>>From the ISDN4Linux FAQs:
>
>"Actually, since April 2000 the rules for certification have changed. Now
>the producer of an ISDN card has to do only hardware tests, the driver
>is not part of the certification anymore. This applies to the whole
>European Community."
>
>http://www.isdn4linux.de/faq/i4lfaq-25.html
>
>If this is true then perhaps the ruling telecoms have improved their
>protocol violation defenses and dispensed with the certification
>process. This would be a Good Thing (tm).
>  
>
>>I think that the important thing to remember is that a good reverse 
>>engineer can take the object code from a rom and produce source files 
>>that are better commented than the original source ever was. 
>>    
>>
>
>Reversers are mundane scribes and relics. Their services were valued in the past
>when software was expensive and poor quality. Free and competitively valued 
>software has devalued their efforts.  Besides, it's hard to build a community 
>or support organization around stolen merchandise. Further evidence of
>their insignificance is the lack of coverage by the media.
>
>  
>
Mike, the context was regarding security by obscurity. It has nothing to 
do with stealing a product to sell to others. The only reverse 
engineering I ever did had nothing at all to do with bootlegging or 
counterfeiting software. The closest I ever came to that was reversal 
for the purpose of proving it contained stolen goods. By the way, I am 
not a mundane scribe or a relic by any means. Closest I ever came to 
being a scribe is putting a signature of mine in pcb copper and some 
silicon. I also left my signature in the leftover gates of some array 
logic. Calling me a scribe or relic is a rather hefty insult, don't you 
think?