could somebody please explain why reverse engineering wrong

[djbl]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

[Volker Pittlik]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

i have been thinking about this lately, and i am not even sure why stealing money (in this case) is so wrong. when someone comes along who is so much richer than other people it seems only natural to me that people would want take all his money, and to look to make more out of it. is this not the basis of all respectable entrepreneurship?

vp

[John Conway]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

i have been thinking about this lately, and i am not even sure why stealing money (in this case) is so wrong. when someone comes along who is so much richer than other people it seems only natural to me that people would want take all his money, and to look to make more out of it. is this not the basis of all respectable entrepreneurship?

vp

And what if the reason he is so rich is because he got my money under false pretences by promising a free update/bugfix which he never delivered?

[Sylwy]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

Hi man !

They are mainly two ways here !


1.reverse engineering and made publicly the source code ( enhanced or not ) ! That's a capital crime in the non extraterrestrial judicial systems !
2.reverse engineering and use the news in a commercial engine ( source code non publicly available ) ! That's science man ! A businessman in chess will be extremely happy, some unhappy....but that's life !
3.of course they are also the third way - to be pure like a virgin- lose a millenium for a single news ( sorry , husband...) but that's almost sure an unhappy status !

Regards,
Silvian
PS: excuse my English , please-that's only because Playboy ( US edition ) hasn't a grammar page !

[zamar]

There is nothing wrong with reverse-engineering, but distributing program which is _heavily_ based on reverse-engineered code is (at least morally) questionable or illegal.

[slobo]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

i have been thinking about this lately, and i am not even sure why stealing money (in this case) is so wrong. when someone comes along who is so much richer than other people it seems only natural to me that people would want take all his money, and to look to make more out of it. is this not the basis of all respectable entrepreneurship?

vp

Money is not directly involved in this process. And sometimes it is not involved even indirectly.

What is in fact, involved in this process is one's knowledge and one's hability of interpretation (imagination). The reverse-engineer must imagine what the resulting mess of code is doing and how does it work.

[slobo]

There is nothing wrong with reverse-engineering, but distributing program which is _heavily_ based on reverse-engineered code is (at least morally) questionable or illegal.

"Illegal"? Are you a lawer or someone linked to laws related to this specific field?

[slobo]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

i have been thinking about this lately, and i am not even sure why stealing money (in this case) is so wrong. when someone comes along who is so much richer than other people it seems only natural to me that people would want take all his money, and to look to make more out of it. is this not the basis of all respectable entrepreneurship?

vp

And what if the reason he is so rich is because he got my money under false pretences by promising a free update/bugfix which he never delivered?

This question is very good and is related to the ethical aspects of reverse-engineering.

[BubbaTough]

i have been thinking about ths lately, and i am not even sure why reverse engineering an engine (in this case) is so wrong. when something comes along that is such an improvement on its predecessors it seems only natural to me that people would want to figure out how it is working, and to look to make improvements on said engine. is this not the basis of all technological advancements?

i have been thinking about this lately, and i am not even sure why stealing money (in this case) is so wrong. when someone comes along who is so much richer than other people it seems only natural to me that people would want take all his money, and to look to make more out of it. is this not the basis of all respectable entrepreneurship?

vp

And what if the reason he is so rich is because he got my money under false pretences by promising a free update/bugfix which he never delivered?

This question is very good and is related to the ethical aspects of reverse-engineering.

These two are issues are completely unrelated. If you want to argue that two wrongs make a right, the place to do it is here:

http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

-Sam

[zamar]

There is nothing wrong with reverse-engineering, but distributing program which is _heavily_ based on reverse-engineered code is (at least morally) questionable or illegal.

"Illegal"? Are you a lawer or someone linked to laws related to this specific field?

Please note the important word "or". Laws vary from country to country. Here in Finland every work you make is automatically implicitely copyrighted by you. It's illegal to distribute work which is copyrighted by someone else. So if there are too many similarities (in logic, spellings, code flow) between reverse-engineered source and distributed program, I'm quite sure court (at least here in Finland) would decide that copyright is broken. If not, it's only morally questionable.

Luckily I'm not the one who should judge this issue. I'm just started to be very bored of this R***** spamming of Talkchess, and certain people who have _nothing_else_to_say, but to spread their own political agenda.