On Tue, Nov 21, 2006 at 01:51:03PM +1030, Tim wrote: > e.g. To reverse engineer a Word doc, I don't need to buy Microsoft Word, > I can use the documents that someone else has created. I've never had > to agree to their EULA, under those circumstances. > > Likewise, I can reverse engineer against someone else's file server. I > don't recall reading any conditions in a EULA that says I can't allow > someone else to use *my* data, or vice versa. Software patents trump this (which is why they're so evil). Suppose (hypothetically) that MS have a patent on a way of compressing the header of the "open file" SMB request, and that all open file requests must use this compressed format. Then any user, using any code, written by anyone, will be in violation of the patent if that code attempts to compress or uncompress the packet header. After all, MP3 is only "my data", yet you can violate some bastard's patent just by uncompressing it (which is why FC doesn't bundle an MP3 player). -- Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
