thought you guys might like this

[DTSCode]

my dad emailed this to me and i found it quite interesting. its pdfs, texts, and docxs of the source code for apple II dos. im considering developing my os around this (even though i hate apple i still think woz was a genius)

Go for it. But y do yo u hate apple.

[DTSCode]

how steve and company runs it, the fact that its closed source ie proprietary software, and how they are very controlling

[Dani]

Well Steve Jobs died and if it wasn't proprietary software, they wouldn't have much to sell, now would they? :)

[DTSCode]

he did, but that doesnt mean he didnt do any of it. and i feel like they arent going to change their beliefs just because the founder died. and open source doesnt mean it cant be sold. there are many people that sell software with the gnu gpl

[Dani]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that anything released under the GNU GPL needs to be free for everyone.

[DTSCode]

no thats not what it means. you can still sell the software, and the source. what the gpl does is allows you to is sell the source without worry that someone will take it as their own and copy right it. if you're interested, there is a movie called revolution os which goes into the back story of it

[Dani]

Oh, I see. But if the source code for operating systems were released, wouldn't that just be an invitation for hacking? Right now linux doesn't have the virus issues that windows does simply because it's not as mainstream, and those who do use it tend to be smarter about security.

[DTSCode]

by hacking i assume you mean black hat.it might be open source, but there is software that can protect you. ssl is open source, but its hard to break, like blow fish, because since you can see the source doesnt mean you know what its going to be used for

But it can be hacked still.

Dani is right though its not as mainstream so you have less idiots trying to use it

[DTSCode]

anything can be hacked. you just have to write it so they cant

[Dani]

Blowfish is an algorithm used to one-way encrypt specific strings, such as passwords, in a database. You can't encrypt an entire operating system, of course ... because (1) decrypting on-the-fly would potentially slow it down too much to be a mainstream option and (2) then it wouldn't be open source if you couldn't read its source code, would it? It's the algorithms and unknown bugs that get exploited, and if you don't know a particular thing is a vulnerability, you wouldn't know to encrypt it in the first place.

[DTSCode]

i didnt say dont let them read the source. i said you have to write it so they cant hack into it. and if they do, use logic to find the bug. thats what they did in the cuckoos egg. there was a bug in emacs that let you transfer and run a program client side, back when they used (damn i cant remember what its called. it was before internet). the guy figured out where the bug was and fix it

[Dani]

I think it's wishful thinking to make it sound so easy to write software that is unhackable. Obviously everyone already tries to do that anyways, and very few succeed. And then, if they do, it's not so simple as just finding the bug and calling it a day ... there could be billions of dollars at stake for every uncaught bug.