Google says it didn’t take Vista apart
Google is denying that it disassembled Vista’s code as part of the production of the Chrome browser. But the search giant insists that doing so would have been perfectly legitimate.
As we reported recently, Google wanted to use Vista’s Data Execution Prevention (DEP) technology, a system which prevents some types of attack by rogue applications, to fix potential problems with Chrome running on various editions of Windows. It found DEP should also work on XP, but it’s not officially supported, and thus there are no guidelines for how to use it.
The source code for Chrome – which is publicly available – certainly appeared to show how Google had solved this problem. A note in the code read “Completely undocumented from Microsoft. You can find this information by disassembling Vista’s SP1 kernel32.dll with your favorite disassembler.”
As we mentioned at the time, using a disassembler would have been legally iffy at best. Microsoft licenses always include specific bans on disassembling its software (which involves translating software from its finished coding back into something at least resembling English.) If nothing else, this ban gives the firm an extra legal weapon to deploy against both hackers and software developers trying to steal ideas.
However, speaking to ZDNet, Google has flatly denied disassembling the code. Instead it says it used a method described at http://www.uninformed.org/?v=2&a=4
Of course, that doesn’t explain why the Chrome coding then mentioned disassembling. And in any case, Google insists “Disassembling is a common and accepted practice in software development, frequently used to make sure software features are compatible with other software programs or operating systems.”
Chances are this is the software equivalent of “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Google clearly believes tactics such as disassembling are morally OK as long as, in their own words, you don’t do evil. But given the professional rivalry with Microsoft, disassembling for any purpose can’t be officially sanctioned or acknowledged.
Indeed, given that most software needs to run safely in Windows, disassembling is probably much more common that anyone admits – it’s just most firms are smart enough not to mention it in their own source code.
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September 29th, 2009
hahaha that is so funny! Why Google even remotely allude to the idea they disassembled?!? That only puts ideas in MS’s head and gives their legal team ammo!
Somebody messed up hahahaha!