Re: what is the best obfuscator to buy

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From: Jonathan Pierce (jpierce_at_nyc.rr.com.nospam)
Date: 06/18/04 

Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:46:09 GMT

>> (If it incorrectly obfuscated a particular error case which had
>>never cropped up, the bug in obfuscation wouldn't have been seen yet.)

The obfuscated code produced by our decompiler is recompiled so incorrectly
generated code would have been seen by the compiler, and it's runtime
behavior would affect that aspect of the product's runtime behavior, since
we ship the recompiled version of our obfuscated code produced by
decompiling the product with itself in obfuscation mode. This is also
evidence that it supports correct COM Interop code generation since COM
Interop code used in the product wouldn't run correctly if the code was
generated incorrectly when the product was decompiled and recompiled prior
to distribution.

> Note that no specific claims were made about *your* obfuscator in the
> passage you quoted - only about *most* new obfuscator products.

It is always better to identify specific reproducable examples and to cite
specific products, rather than making inaccurate general statements implying
that anything new that is less expensive, buggy, and incomplete. I
apologize if the author of the quote was referring to his personal
experience with some other unknown product, but our the only new product
that was recently announced for this market that has made these claims. If
he was referring to our products, I'd appreciate specific examples since
none of our customers have had as bug-related issues and have only expressed
positive feedback to us both directly and in public forums.

Jonathan

"Jon Skeet [C# MVP]" <skeet@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1b3a3dccbad7722798ac84@msnews.microsoft.com...
> Jonathan Pierce <jpierce@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
>> > > These two have been around for a while and work pretty well.
>> > > Most of the new obfuscator products that claim to be cheaper are
>> > > quite buffy and/or incomplete.
>>
>> This is an absolutely unfounded statement and you would be wise to do
>> your own evaluation. Our obfuscator is new, less expensive, more
>> powerful, easier to configure, and there have been no bugs reported
>> regarding obfuscation. In addition, we obfuscate our product with
>> itself each time we ship it so any bugs would prevent the product from
>> working at all.
>
> No - only bugs that affected obfuscation of your code would prevent the
> product from working at all, and not necessarily all of those bugs
> even. (If it incorrectly obfuscated a particular error case which had
> never cropped up, the bug in obfuscation wouldn't have been seen yet.)
>
>> This is strong evidence that it works extremely well
>
> Well, it's evidence that it works on your own code.
>
>> and our customers are extremely happy with it.
>
> That's certainly more convincing, as it'll cover a wider code base.
>
>> We will be happy to respond to any issues that you encouter using the
>> product. Please attempt to keep these discussions based on facts and
>> real examples, rather than unfounded opinions and inaccurate claims
>> that interfere with developers interested in accurate information in
>> order to make correct choices.
>
> Inaccurate claims such as the implied, "It works with our code
> therefore there can't be any bugs"?
>
> Note that no specific claims were made about *your* obfuscator in the
> passage you quoted - only about *most* new obfuscator products.
>
> --
> Jon Skeet - <skeet@pobox.com>
> http://www.pobox.com/~skeet
> If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

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