Re: reverse engineering bounties

Benjamin Larsson writes:
> 
> Diego Biurrun wrote:
> 
> >So why not put up some bounties on the heads - so to speak - of
> >certain codecs?  I know I would be willing to contribute to some and
> >I'm sure others will donate as well.
> >
> >But will this really spur reverse engineering work?  Will you guys be
> >motivated by the prospect of getting an XXX dollar/euro prize for
> >discovering, say, WMV9/QDM2/RV30/Cook or for completing support for
> >WMV8/SVQ3?
> >
> >So what do you think?
> >
> I've been thinking of the same thing but tossed the idea. The people 
> that has RE codecs have done it for other reasons then money (nobody 
> payed them money AFAIK). But it could attract other people, I'm thinking 
> of the software cracking crowd, a problem for them is that they mostly 
> don't have the backgroundknowledge required for theise kind of tasks. I 
> think that one should instead concentrate on producing good articles how 
> to RE codecs and increase the community knowledge in the area. Thus 
> making it easier for interested to get started. That or raise a really 
> big bounty.

Let me clarify what I wrote: I know that the people around here are
not primarily motivated by money.  Still the people that do RE need
money and are not interested in RE alone.  The idea behind this bounty
thing is to create an incentive for these people to devote more time
to RE codec X instead of codec Y or activity Z.

And yes, we need to attack this from several sides, writing good
documentation and increasing community knowledge is another part of
the story.

Also this provides a way for non-programmers to get involved in the
development process and direct it a bit in the direction they would
like to see it move (for a small price, literally).  In this case,
such a thing would not be a bad thing but a win-win situation for both
sides IMO.

Diego


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