Rant to microsoft!

[chovynz]

"I recommend that you contact Microsoft Product and Partners Information Team as they will be in a better position to address your question."

From an MS person I chatted to.

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Seek fun and you shall find it. Seek stuff to Q_Q about and you'll find that, too. I choose to have fun.

[13CentKiller]

What would be their reason NOT to release it to the public?

That is what bites my ass.

I don't know a soul who has actually purchased it this year. I can't find it for sale anymore here in New Zealand. And my internet is fast enough to download it in 35 minutes....

And people have much faster internet than mine. Is the source code like four digits that someone has to find out?

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[Seth Karlo]

Lol, no.

The source code is the code (A programming langauage) that has been written by microsoft, which makes the game run.

I don't know the specifics, but needless to say, its very long and complicated...

Seth

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Signature by Sleipnir.

[13CentKiller]

Can't you just use a program like Hex workshop and extract the source from the *.exe file itself?

Is the source code hexadecimal?

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[chovynz]

:facepalm:

...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code

Example source code.

Code:

/* chdir_kmod.c by detour@metalshell.com
*
* This simple module will recieve system calls
* to change the directory and log them.  This can
* be very useful if you want to create a sandbox for
* users on your system, or just log general activity.
*
* Compile:
*  gcc -Wall -DLINUX -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -c chdir_kmod.c
*
* Install:
*  insmod chdir_kmod
*
* Note: Do not load it twice, or you could lose the pointer
*       to the original kernel function and be unable to
*       change directories.
*
* http://www.metalshell.com/
*
*/

#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>

#if CONFIG_MODVERSIONS==1
#define MODVERSIONS
#include <linux/modversions.h>
#endif

extern void *sys_call_table[];

/* Pointer to original chdir function, we must call this
&nbsp;&nbsp; from our intercept function to allow for normal directory
&nbsp;&nbsp; changes.&nbsp;&nbsp;This will also be used to restore the syscall pointer
&nbsp;&nbsp; when this module is unloaded. */
int (*old_sys_chdir)(const char *);

int (*sys_getuid)();

int sys_chdir_intercept(const char *path) {
&nbsp;&nbsp;printk("%d %s\n", sys_getuid(), path);

&nbsp;&nbsp;return old_sys_chdir(path);
}

int init_module() {
&nbsp;&nbsp;// Outputted to your syslog

&nbsp;&nbsp;printk("Module loaded..\n");

&nbsp;&nbsp;old_sys_chdir = sys_call_table[__NR_chdir];
&nbsp;&nbsp;sys_call_table[__NR_chdir] = sys_chdir_intercept;

&nbsp;&nbsp;sys_getuid = sys_call_table[__NR_getuid];

&nbsp;&nbsp;return 0;
}

void cleanup_module() {
&nbsp;&nbsp;// Outputted to your syslog

&nbsp;&nbsp;printk("Module unloaded..\n");

&nbsp;&nbsp;sys_call_table[__NR_chdir] = old_sys_chdir;
}

Example of what happens when you look at the FL file with a Hex editor.

Code:

00011E7A0: 00 8D 74 24 48 8D 7C 24 18 F3 A5 8B 4C 24 10 89 .ıt$Hı|$.??‹L$.‰
00011E7B0: 44 24 3C A1 C8 52 67 00 85 C0 89 4C 24 40 89 54 D$<??Rg.…?‰L$@‰T
00011E7C0: 24 44 75 0A E8 17 8C 09 00 A3 C8 52 67 00 8B 08 $Du.?.OE..??Rg.‹.
00011E7D0: 8D 54 24 18 52 8D 93 14 02 00 00 52 8D 54 24 74 ıT$.Rı“....RıT$t
00011E7E0: 52 50 FF 51 1C 8D 7B 04 B9 0C 00 00 00 8D 74 24 RP?Q.ı{.?....ıt$
00011E7F0: 6C F3 A5 C6 43 34 01 5F 5E 5B 81 C4 90 00 00 00 l???C4._^[ı?ı...
00011E800: C2 04 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 ?..ııııııııııııı
00011E810: 8B 89 F8 00 00 00 85 C9 B0 01 74 0C 8B 01 51 FF ‹‰?...…?.t.‹.Q?
00011E820: 50 54 83 F8 04 0F 94 C0 C3 E8 4B 2B EE FF 90 90 PT??..”???K+??ıı
00011E830: A1 A8 C2 5D 00 53 55 56 57 33 FF 85 C0 74 43 8B ???].SUVW3?…?tC‹
00011E840: 6C 24 18 8B F5 8A 10 8A 1E 8A CA 3A D3 75 1E 84 l$.‹??.?.??:?u.„
00011E850: C9 74 16 8A 50 01 8A 5E 01 8A CA 3A D3 75 0E 83 ?t.?P.?^.??:?u.?
00011E860: C0 02 83 C6 02 84 C9 75 DC 33 C0 EB 05 1B C0 83 ?.??.„?u?3??..??
00011E870: D8 FF 85 C0 74 22 8B 04 FD B0 C2 5D 00 47 85 C0 ??…?t"‹.??].G…?
00011E880: 75 C1 8B 54 24 1C 5F 5E 5D C7 02 00 00 00 00 B8 u?‹T$._^]?.....?
00011E890: FD FF FF FF 5B C2 0C 00 8B 04 FD AC C2 5D 00 85 ????[?..‹.??].…
00011E8A0: C0 79 21 8B 4C 24 14 25 FF FF FF 7F 8B 34 08 8B ?y!‹L$.%???‹4.‹
00011E8B0: 06 56 FF 50 04 8B 4C 24 1C 5F 89 31 5E 5D 33 C0 .V?P.‹L$._‰1^]3?
00011E8C0: 5B C2 0C 00 8B 54 24 14 8D 34 10 8B 06 56 FF 50 [?..‹T$.ı4.‹.V?P
00011E8D0: 04 8B 4C 24 1C 5F 89 31 5E 5D 33 C0 5B C2 0C 00 .‹L$._‰1^]3?[?..
00011E8E0: 8B 44 24 04 8B 48 04 41 89 48 04 8B C1 C2 04 00 ‹D$.‹H.A‰H.‹??..

Without the source code We can't modify the things. (yes we could hack it but then MS would sue us/the person, Much better to do things legally, And with patience,)

A programmer would be able to explain more better, but this is a simplification for the purposes of explaining why Just Hex editing wouldnt work.

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Seek fun and you shall find it. Seek stuff to Q_Q about and you'll find that, too. I choose to have fun.

[Epholl]

What do I see:

Microsoft makes anything to make profit. It currently has 2 things to care about:

- Win Vista
- XBox 360

Every PC has to have an OS, which is causing Vista, no matter how crappy it is, gets installed on pretty high number of comps. Opponents? XP (not sold anymore, no drivers for newer hardware) and Linux (Which is better, and more advanced, but not always compatible[The moment my XP dies, I am switching to Ubuntu])
So: VISTA MAKES PROFIT - APPROVED.

XBox is sold cheaper, than made, the real profit is gained from selling the games for it (MS gets few % from every game) and with the console being much cheaper, than a high-end PC, many people will prefer it.
So: XBOX MAKES PROFIT - APPROVED.

Freelancer: Old game, old technologies, not many people playing, nor buying it, but few still remain. MS has no profit from those people playing it, so it would be "better", if the game died completely and we all bought Xboxes and Vistas. So it would probably be a "step back" to make the people, who are not making profit happy by supporting them - MS never gives anything for free.
So: FL MAKES NO PROFIT - BYE BYE SOURCE CODE.

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[Rpgdudester]

well, you know, if they really wanted to be nice, they could at least talk to discovery, and setting the game up as freeware now, considering it's old. oh, btw, not sure, but I know Target in the US still sells this game, that's how I came about buying it:)

[sn!p3r]

Got mine from walmart last year. Also, sent a email to microsoft

[El Nino]

Yeah... Let's get a source code, It's ben a while since I programed, but FL, who yeah I would do anything with it....

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Donate to the Poor Pilot's Fundation via Sirius Bank /givecash GreenHawk 1000000 now, and support poor pilots sirius wide!
Skype: jure.grbec
My primary char: Jose El Nino - Corsair Elder captain of the SS Greenhawk

Currently Inactive due to pursuit of life long dreams, will be back...*edited* As promised am back.

[Monk]

The copyright expires in 2098...start counting down:P