(why) Is Windows' Code Still a Secret??!


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Thread: (why) Is Windows' Code Still a Secret??!

  1. #1
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    (why) Is Windows' Code Still a Secret??!

    I'm no expert on this, so forgive any wrong information/assumptions.

    I've read that Microsoft has been forced to "reveal" parts of their source code to certain companies and governments for safety reasons (so for instance the military knows that there are no security issues), and I've come under the impression that no one except a select few in Microsoft knows the source code for Microsoft (it's core, so to speak).
    But how can that be? Microsoft is used by billions, and there must be many thousand hackers and crackers who are just dying to crack the source code of windows(tm) .
    Has this been done, is the source code still a secret?

    Is there even such a "secret" to speak of?
    Somebody please fill me in..
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  2. #2
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    It's not really possible to quickly convert a compiled program like that into source code - it has to be done by hand, line by line. Given that Windows XP has billions and billions of lines of code, nobody's going to make much progress anytime soon
    Scotty: Captain, we din' can reference it!
    Kirk: Analysis, Mr. Spock?
    Spock: Captain, it doesn't appear in the symbol table.
    Kirk: Then it's of external origin?
    Spock: Affirmative.
    Kirk: Mr. Sulu, go to pass two.
    Sulu: Aye aye, sir, going to pass two.

  3. #3
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    uh... you don't just "crack the source" of such a huge operating system. Even if people make the attempt to deassemble each and every part of the code piece by piece (which in itself would b elong, tedious, and take several years), converting that assembly code to it's original C or C++ code (or whatever language they use) would just about prove impossible. You might end up with something, you might even end up with something that kind of works, but chances are you wouldnt be anywhere near the original code. And, gee... wouldn't it be a violation of copyright law to "crack thier source"?

    I know alot of people think all software should be open source, but hey, this ain't communism. People should make thier source public if they want to... they shouldnt be forced to. Microsoft makes it's money chiefly from the Windows platform... do you really think they want hundreds of windows distros floating around, being downloaded for free and destroying thier corporate empire?

  4. #4
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    i think that windows is a secret because no one really cares about windows they are too busy working on making their own OS surpass windows.

    if i were to play hide and go seek with the windows source I would just tell it to count to a million and then walk back indoors and play on my linux or BSD box
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  5. #5
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    For the most part micro$oft has patented most of the technology being used in its windowz OS so circumventing any of these patents will violate US patent laws............. you get the picture. But why would you want to see windowz code anyway ? We all know its flawed, Besides it would take(waste) enourmous amounts of your time to look at each individual application source code, Just think how many tousands if not millions of lines of code IE alone must contain. It would probably bore you to death just by looking at it.

    Besides it doesnt take rocket scientist to see that each version of windows is just revised code from an earlier version of their OS.
    By the way shared source is not open source. SHared source allows you to look at the code but dont touch or tell anybody about it.
    Last edited by kshim5; 09-01-2003 at 07:39 PM.
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  6. #6
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    http://www.microsoft.com/resources/s...e/default.mspx
    http://www.microsoft.com/resources/s...getsource.mspx
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...nested&tid=109
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...nested&tid=109

    If you are a company, and you make this piece of software, why would you want to release that software to the public? It's opening up a can of worms for you unless you intended from the beginning for that code to be accessed by the world. Microsoft, and other companies can use security through obscurity. That doesn't work when a flashlight is being shone on it. So It would not be a good thing for the millions of people who use the software. Who can write software faster, the people who try to fix it and then never have the upgrades taken (remember, a patch was out for blaster for a full month before the worm was created). Or the virus writers who find a much easier way to clog down the internet with a flaw that might be unpatchable, or something like that...
    Last edited by sharth; 09-01-2003 at 07:40 PM.
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  7. #7
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    Originally posted by carrja99
    Microsoft makes it's money chiefly from the Windows platform... do you really think they want hundreds of windows distros floating around, being downloaded for free and destroying thier corporate empire?
    I think its office actually, but either or. :-p
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  8. #8
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    This is sort of related: I play many old games using new interpriters (eg ScummVM and NAGI) and to make these interpriters people have to reverse engineer the original source code with no idea what the original was like. To do just a single game which is about 500kb can take well over a year. Convert this to a minimum Windows 98 install which is ~ 200mb and you have years of work.

    This bit may be slightly unrelated:
    A few years ago when I first started visual basic programming I decided to try and decompile somebody elses program to have a look at the code so i went in search of a decompiler for VB6. After many hours of searching I found one to decompile forms but that was it. I found many rumours of a program to decompile VB6 but nobody knows where to find it. It is supposidly 1gb+ in size.
    (BTW For those interested I did find some programs to fully decompile older VB programs, i think from VB3 and below)

  9. #9
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    A friend of mine claims to have seen the Windows Longhorn source code.

    According to him, he got to see it at some other guy's who made a trip to Hongkong and bought it there on a CD/DVD. It is said the code comes from "Microsoft dissidents", i.e. employees who got kicked out or who left for their own good (after making a private copy first).

    I don't know how much truth there is in this story - but my friend isn't the type of guy who's just bragging around to impress anyone...

    "What can be said at all can be said clearly, and what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence."

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  10. #10
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    I've read that Microsoft has been forced to "reveal" parts of their source code to certain companies and governments for safety reasons (so for instance the military knows that there are no security issues)
    No. Microsoft has revealed limited amount of code to other countries. However, this is laughable as they claimed revealing any code would become an issue of national security. Code was released to China. Microsoft has also been forced to open and document various communications protocols and APIs.

    But how can that be? Microsoft is used by billions, and there must be many thousand hackers and crackers who are just dying to crack the source code of windows(tm) .
    This reminded me of a post over at Adequacy.org. No, not the above quote but the subject matter. Aparently elenchos (who beat it to deather after someone else posted the idiocy) believed that opening a executable (exe) in Word would reveal the source code. Later whenever he ranted about killing access to the command line it came up again when discussing the EDIT command. Again he believed that typing EDIT program.exe would reveal the source code. Apparently he thought the garbage on screen was the source code written in some sort of proprietary Microsoft language but code none the less.

    I don't know how much truth there is in this story - but my friend isn't the type of guy who's just bragging around to impress anyone...
    Your friend is full of crap.
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  11. #11
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    Originally posted by El_Cu_Guy
    This reminded me of a post over at Adequacy.org. No, not the above quote but the subject matter. Aparently elenchos (who beat it to deather after someone else posted the idiocy) believed that opening a executable (exe) in Word would reveal the source code. Later whenever he ranted about killing access to the command line it came up again when discussing the EDIT command. Again he believed that typing EDIT program.exe would reveal the source code. Apparently he thought the garbage on screen was the source code written in some sort of proprietary Microsoft language but code none the less.
    LOL!
    you should tell that guy that if you put a cassette tape to your ear and pull out the tape you can hear the audio from it also

    And a yellow highlighter on the edges of your CDs make them sound better...

    And if you delete to items from your "recycle bin" they are not recoverable...ever!

  12. #12
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    you should tell that guy that if you put a cassette tape to your ear and pull out the tape you can hear the audio from it also
    Adequacy.org is long gone.
    Social Engineering Specialist
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    This post has been brought to you by the STFU Foundation.

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