[ros-dev] My attitude

[Alex Ionescu]

Ge van Geldorp wrote:

>Are you sure a public mailing list is the right place for this? Don't hide
>behind Steven on this, he didn't put a gun to your head to force you to make
>the post, you decided for yourself.
>
You have GOT to stop putting words in my mouth, it's gotten really annoying.

> A recent example, when the
>question came up how to prevent umpnpmgr from popping up dialogs during
>second stage setup, you told us that IDA revealed that Windows uses such and
>such registry key for that. 
>
I actually used "Strings" to dump out the registry keys. That's not 
reverse engineering.

>Why would we need to implement this identical to
>Windows? Why not create a independent implementation (which could happen to
>be the same, only arrived at independently)?
>  
>
Uhh..let's see...because that key is
1) Public
2) Documented
3) Recommended for use by 3rd party software.

>When asked about stuff like this, your reply is that reverse engineering is
>legal. 
>
No, my reply is that 1) this wasn't reverse engineering. 2) This key HAD 
to be copied. Doing it "independently" would break any app using it. 3) 
This key is public info.

>I don't dispute it is, when done properly. I'm just not sure that the
>way you're doing it, reverse engineering Windows and then writing ReactOS
>code, is proper. 
>
I don't do that, that is against the ReactOS IP Policy. Please explain 
how you go to from "he found a registry string" to "he reverses code 
then writes ReactOS code"

>I have no solid evidence either way on whether it's legal
>or not legal and I'd rather err on the side of caution. In short, I do think
>your contributions potentially present a major threat to the project.
>  
>
Thanks for your comments.
However, I find the fact that you've been ignoring me whenever I try to 
talk to you on IRC, and then decide to leave, and that you now make 
public accusations ("reverse engineering Windows and then writing 
ReactOS code" happens to be good enough reason to kick someone out) is 
pretty arrogant too. Just my 2 cents.

>GvG
>
>  
>
Best regards,
Alex Ionescu