Software:AARD code

From HandWiki
Short description: Segment of code in beta release of Windows 3.1
An example of the error messages the AARD would produce.

The AARD code was a segment of code in a beta release of Microsoft Windows 3.1 that would determine whether Windows was running on MS-DOS or PC DOS, rather than a competing workalike such as DR-DOS, and would result in a cryptic error message in the latter case. This XOR-encrypted, self-modifying, and deliberately obfuscated machine code used a variety of undocumented DOS structures and functions to perform its work. The code was present in the installer, in WIN.COM, and in several other executables in the operating system.[1]

Discovery

The AARD code was originally discovered by Geoff Chappell on 17 April 1992 and then further analyzed and documented in a joint effort with Andrew Schulman.[2][3][4][5][6] The name was derived from Microsoft programmer Aaron R. Reynolds (1955–2008),[7] who used "AARD" to sign his work; "AARD" was found in the machine code of the installer.[8][9] Microsoft disabled the AARD code for the final release of Windows 3.1, but did not remove it, so that it could have become reactivated later by the change of a single byte in an installed system.[5]

DR-DOS publisher Digital Research released a patch named "business update" in 1992 to enable the AARD tests to pass on its operating system.[10][11][12]

Memos

The rationale for the AARD code came to light when internal memos were released during the United States v. Microsoft Corp. antitrust case in 1999. Internal memos released by Microsoft revealed that the specific focus of these tests was DR-DOS.[1][13][14] At one point, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates sent a memo to a number of employees, reading "You never sent me a response on the question of what things an app would do that would make it run with MS-DOS and not run with DR-DOS. Is there [sic] feature they have that might get in our way?"[12][15] Microsoft Senior Vice President Brad Silverberg later sent another memo, stating: "What the [user] is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is DR-DOS and then go out to buy MS-DOS."[12][15]

Following the purchase of DR-DOS by Novell and its renaming to "Novell DOS", Microsoft Co-President Jim Allchin stated in a memo, "If you're going to kill someone there isn't much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger."[16][12][15]

Lawsuit and settlement

Novell DOS changed hands again. The new owner, Caldera, Inc., began a lawsuit against Microsoft over the AARD code, Caldera v. Microsoft,[12][17][18][19] which was later settled.[15][20][21][22] It was originally believed that the settlement was around $150 million,[23] but in November 2009 the Settlement Agreement was released, and the total was revealed to be $280 million.[24][21][22][25]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "msdos detection - hot job for you". 1993-02-24. http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/1000/PX01133.pdf.  (NB. This court document is a copy of a mail by Aaron Reynolds written in 1991 and forwarded by one of its recipients, Phil Barrett, in 1993.)
  2. ↑ "Record of AARD Research". 2011-11-24. http://www.geoffchappell.com/notes/windows/archive/aard/research.htm.  (Web article published by Geoff Chappell on 3 September 1999 about an e-mail sent to Andrew Schulman on 17 April 1992.)
  3. ↑ "First Public AARD Details". 2011-11-24. http://www.geoffchappell.com/notes/windows/archive/aard/firstpublic.htm. 
  4. ↑ "Examining the Windows AARD Detection Code - A serious message--and the code that produced it". Dr. Dobb's Journal (Miller Freeman, Inc.) 18 (9): 42, 44–48, 89. September 1993. #204. http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=1030/ddj9309d/9309d.htm. Retrieved 2013-10-05. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Undocumented DOS: A programmer's guide to reserved MS-DOS functions and data structures - expanded to include MS-DOS 6, Novell DOS and Windows 3.1 (2 ed.). Addison Wesley. 1994. ISBN 0-201-63287-X. https://archive.org/details/undocumenteddosp00andr_0.  (xviii+856+vi pages, 3.5-inch floppy) Errata: [1][2]
  6. ↑ "Microsoft: Vorgetäuschter Bug legte DR-DOS lahm" (in de). Heise Online (Verlag Heinz Heise). 1998-08-27. https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Microsoft-Vorgetaeuschter-Bug-legte-DR-DOS-lahm-14173.html. Retrieved 2018-07-14.  [3]
  7. ↑ "Aaron R. Reynolds". Seattle Times. 2008-08-04. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?pid=114850359. 
  8. ↑ "Microsoft Plays Hardball". Eat the State! 3 (7). 1998-10-21. http://eatthestate.org/03-07/MicrosoftPlaysHardball.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
  9. ↑ "The Microsoft Monopoly Debates". 2000-04-01. http://jerrypournelle.com/debates/Microsoft1.html. 
  10. ↑ "DR DOS 6.0 does Windows 3.1". Computerworld. News Shorts: 6. 1992-04-20. https://books.google.com/books?id=w1yCn870hscC&pg=PA6. Retrieved 2019-07-22. 
  11. ↑ "25 years of DR DOS history - Digital Research DOS history". FreeDOS.org. 2000-09-18. http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/press/2000-drdos-hist.txt. "See footnote #19 (BDOS 1067h "DR DOS 6.0 Windows 3.1 update, April 1992"; 1992-03, 1992-04-07: "This public DR DOS 6.0 update only includes patches addressing full Windows 3.1 compatibility. There should have been a full "business update" for registered users, shipping a little bit later."), #27 (BDOS 1072h "Novell DOS 7 Panther/Smirnoff BETA 3", 1993-09: "This issue does not have workarounds for Windows 3.1 AARD code."), #29 (BDOS 1072h "Novell DOS 7 German release"; 1994-02-22: "This issue is known to have workarounds for Windows 3.1 AARD code. This should also apply to the earlier English issue.")" 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 "In the United States District Court - District of Utah, Central Division - Caldera, Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation - Consolidated statement of facts in support of its responses to motions for summary judgement by Microsoft Corporation - Case No. 2:96CV 0645B". Caldera, Inc.. April 1999. http://www.maxframe.com/DR/Info/fullstory/factstat.html. 
  13. ↑ "How MS played the incompatibility card against DR-DOS - Real bear-traps, and spurious errors". The Register. 1999-11-05. https://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/11/05/how_ms_played_the_incompatibility/. 
  14. ↑ "Windows Warning Resurfaces in Suit". Associated Press. 1998-08-28. https://apnews.com/f98bb622c4df848fee85f8ede1f32f72. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 "Microsoft emails focus on DR-DOS threat". CNET News. 1999-04-28. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-225129.html. 
  16. ↑ "Customers and Novell". 1993-09-18. pp. 72–73. http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/assets/attachments/PLEX01793.pdf. 
  17. ↑ "In the United States District Court - District of Utah, Central Division - Caldera, Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation - Case No. 2:96CV 0645B - Caldera, Inc.'s Memorandum in opposition to defendant's motion for partial Summary Judgment on plaintiff's "Technological Tying" claim". Caldera, Inc.. May 1999. http://www.maxframe.com/DR/Info/fullstory/tech.html. 
  18. ↑ "Caldera submits evidence to counter Microsoft's motions for partial summary judgment". Caldera, Inc.. 1999-04-28. http://www.maxframe.com/DR/Info/fullstory/factrel.html. 
  19. ↑ "In the United States District Court - District of Utah, Central Division - Caldera, Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation - Case No. 2:96CV 0645B - First amended complaint and jury demand". Tech Law Journal. http://www.techlawjournal.com/courts/caldera/Default.htm. 
  20. ↑ "Caldera vs Microsoft - the settlement". BBC News. 2000-01-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/600488.stm. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Settlement agreement - Microsoft Corporation and Caldera, Inc. reach agreement to settle antitrust lawsuit". 2000-01-07. http://www.groklaw.net/pdf2/NovvMS-104-8.pdf. "[…] Microsoft will pay to Caldera, by wire transfer in accordance with written instructions provided by Caldera, the amount of two hundred eighty million dollars ($280,000,000), as full settlement of all claims or potential claims covered by this agreement […]"  (NB. This document of the Caldera v. Microsoft case was an exhibit in the Novell v. Microsoft and Comes v. Microsoft cases.)
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Microsoft's memorandum in opposition to Novell's renewed motion for summary judgement on Microsoft's affirmative defenses and in support of Microsoft's cross-motion for summary judgement". United States District Court, District of Maryland. 2009-11-13. p. 16. http://www.groklaw.net/pdf2/NovvMS-104-2.pdf. "[…] Microsoft paid $280 million to Caldera to settle the case, and $35.5 million of the settlement proceeds were provided by Caldera to Novell as a so-called "royalty." […] Dissatisfied with that amount, Novell filed suit in June 2000 against Caldera (succeeded by The Canopy Group), alleging that Novell was entitled to even more. […] Novell ultimately prevailed, adding $17.7 million to its share of the monies paid by Microsoft to Caldera, for a total of more than $53 million […]" 
  23. ↑ "Caldera settlement shows a new side of Microsoft". cnet. 2000-01-11. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-235465.html. 
  24. ↑ "Exhibits to Microsoft's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment in Novell WordPerfect Case". Groklaw. 2009-11-23. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091120165256836. "[…] exhibits attached to Microsoft's Memorandum of Law in support of Microsoft's cross motion for summary judgment in the Novell v. Microsoft antitrust litigation. We finally find out what Microsoft paid Caldera to settle the DrDOS litigation back in 2000: $280 million. We even get to read the settlement agreement. It's attached as an exhibit. […] The settlement terms were sealed for all these years, but […] now that mystery is solved. […] We also find out what Caldera/Canopy then paid Novell from that $280 million: $35.5 million at first, and then after Novell successfully sued Canopy in 2004, Caldera's successor-in-interest on this matter, an additional $17.7 million, according to page 16 of the Memorandum. Microsoft claims that Novell is not the real party in interest in this antitrust case, and so it can't sue Microsoft for the claims it has lodged against it, because, Microsoft says, Novell sold its antitrust claims to Caldera when it sold it DrDOS. So the exhibits are trying to demonstrate that Novell got paid in full, so to speak, via that earlier litigation. As a result, we get to read a number of documents from the Novell v. Canopy litigation. Novell responds it retained its antitrust claims in the applications market. […]" 
  25. ↑ "Microsoft Will Pay $275 Million To Settle Lawsuit From Caldera". The Wall Street Journal. 2000-01-11. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB947543007415899052. "Microsoft Corp. agreed to pay an estimated $275 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit by Caldera Inc., heading off a trial that was likely to air nasty allegations from a decade ago. […] Microsoft and Caldera, a small Salt Lake City software company that brought the suit in 1996, didn't disclose terms of the settlement. Microsoft, though, said it would take a charge of three cents a share for the agreement in the fiscal third quarter ending March 31 […] the company has roughly 5.5 billion shares outstanding […]" 

Further reading



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