Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Reverse-engineering and ethics
Several weeks ago, we talked in class about how Compaq reverse-engineered the IBM-PC's BIOS. Supposedly, they did so in a way that did not violate copyright laws. Was it ethical for them to sell their product after having done that? They didn't have to put as much time or resources into their product, so they were able to produce it more cheaply and save money on development. Granted, they did spend a bit of money to reverse-engineer the BIOS and to hire lawyers in order to ensure that they weren't violating copyright in any way. However, it seems that they benefited unproportionally due to their reverse-engineering. They didn't create anything new - they just replicated someone's idea. I suppose ethics of a society are defined by the laws governing that society. So while they may not have acted unethically, I think their course of action was wrong. They should have used their creative energies to produce a new product that would contribute to the advance of the technological front.
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"I think their course of action was wrong. They should have used their creative energies to produce a new product that would contribute to the advance of the technological front."
ReplyDeleteBy reverse engineering the BIOS and reducing the costs dramatically, I think they brought the benefits of personal computing to a whole new world of people. Maybe that's a larger contribution than the creation of the IBM PC?
It's very interesting to have to consider so many new situations and circumstances with the advance of technology. Years ago this would never even be an issue. It's just something I find interesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this topic is a difficult one because if people did not do this then more companies would have a monopoly on their products (which technically they deserve if they were the one to produce it) but this means higher prices for the consumer, also the company probably wouldn't progress the technology as quickly if they had no competition. So where the companies lose the consumers benefit.
ReplyDeleteSome of the best and most successful ideas in industry come from inspiration gained by others. It is very hard to break into a market with a completely new idea. Most of the time the creator of a product took an existing idea and made it better. In this example Compaq by producing a cheaper product force IBM to come up with a better product as well. This is how our free market system works.
ReplyDeleteSince they reverse-engineered and mimicked the IBM-PC, all the IBM software was compatible with their machine as well. I think more compatibility in general is better for all in general, than the harm that was caused by their copying.
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