Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!snorkelwacker!usc!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!nprdc!malloy From: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Latest code-copying decision Message-ID: <9496@skinner.nprdc.arpa> Date: 12 Sep 90 14:06:24 GMT References: <1990Sep11.185105.14201@kodak.kodak.com> <1990Sep12.123323.1760@uncecs.edu> Reply-To: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy) Distribution: na Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego Lines: 28 In article <1990Sep12.123323.1760@uncecs.edu> utoddl@uncecs.edu (Todd M. Lewis) writes: >In article aglew@crhc.uiuc.edu (Andy Glew) writes: >>Hmm.... Isn't this like you buying a GM car, then taking it to one of >>those "Supe-it-up" garages, who take out the carburetor, build another >>carb that'll work like the original, only with better performance, and >>then putting the new carb in your car? >No. It's more like doing the same thing to a rental car. >Remember, you can hardly ever _buy_ software. You are only >licensed to use it. Close, but no cigar. These people have _bought_ the computers, and it is the microcode that is being altered. It's not software, it's firmware -- an integral part of the machine, without which the machine is incapable of running software. An almost exact analogy is to the new breed of cars with electronically-controlled fuel systems, where the mixture, timing, et al, is controlled by a ROM program in order to maximize fuel economy. There is an industry centered around replacing those ROMs with new ROMs programmed to give the car higher performance (at the expense of fuel economy). | "The three most dangerous Sean Malloy | things in the world are a Navy Personnel Research & Development Center | programmer with a soldering San Diego, CA 92152-6800 | iron, a hardware type with a malloy@nprdc.navy.mil | program patch, and a user | with an idea."