Sothink Swf Decompiler the future of flash design is no longer profitable?

[BuffaloHelp 24]

Few years ago, Xisto had this topic started

http://forums.xisto.com/Swf-Fla-Decom&hl=sothink

And back then I didn't think much of it. Besides how good can it be?

Until I get this spam mail (yes I was curious enough to open this spam email :-P) and went to the website http://www.sothink.com/ and I started to read through.

Amazing little program and features...I was impressed. I was hooked. I actually purchased the product. (Yes, there's a sucker born in every minute and this sucker badly needed the fix). And I decided to grab a SWF (the free plugin for FireFox was too good to be true) and decided to decompile it.

Holy god of Jupiter! It actually worked. Well, not 100% exactly. And I'm thinking because I don't have Adobe Flash CS3. I'm still using Adobe Flash 8. Just few minor things like alignment of links and animation sometimes wouldn't be perfect. But it decompiled it like flatten image decomplied to layers.

This topic isn't about the program, although I can see many would reply about it. My topic is what do you think it will happen if people decided to use Sothink SWF decompiler to grab designs from sites like Template Monster and start using it like they purchased it? Because the site shows the SWF file and it's so easy to grab it using Sothink SWF catcher, paying for templates may be the thing of the past.

And if this fad catches on, will Template Monster guard their SWF files? Will the quality of designs diminish as it happened in OSWD.org? (This site used to be so good with free templates but no one seems to submit new designs anymore)

Flash was suppose to be viewed as "safe" web design because no one can "copy" the contents. But if decompiling is as easy as A-B-C, will there be safer content design that cannot be decompiled? Paid designers might not be compelled to submit quality designs to Template Monster in fears of getting ripped off. I've been using Template Monster and gladly paid for designs because they were affordable with high quality designs. Will this be the end of low costing, high quality web templates?

[rayzoredge 2]

In my eyes, it's just another way that people can plagiarize code or take the easy way out to actually take the code that you were going to write anyway, or even use the tool to analyze how someone did their Flash work and apply what you learned to modify or create your own SWFs.If people are lazy enough to just rip code, I'm sure they'll be stupid and/or lazy enough to leave any copyright comments in which you can pinpoint a culprit. If something looks very similar to your own Flash applications, you can always use the same tool to look through the code and then as such accuse that person of infringing copyright laws (if in the case your work has been protected by copyright). Software like SoThink just makes it easier for people to do something like that, but it doesn't make a plagiarist immune to ripping things off without consequence.Now, back in the day I used to use Flare to try to see how people did certain things with their Flash apps, but it was kind of hard to read through all the garbage as Flare has a text output to include everything: objects, ActionScript, and everything in between. I'm sure that a skilled Flash developer would be able to decipher everything with ease, but I'm just pointing out the fact that decompiling Flash apps have been possible for a long time... but with SoThink, from what it sounds like, it's just much, much easier.

[freeflashclocks 0]

I am been using swf decompiler from sothink company for years now, their swf decompiler is the best, it can really decompile a swf file to the bone, but of course, not all swf files, specially if the swf are compressed and encrypted at a high level with tools like swf encrypt from amayeta company, which by the way, it is the best, but there are other tools to protect/encrypt and compress the swf files to a smaller size, it is like a html compressor, but for swf files only.Swf decompiler can also convert swf files to fla files, it creates a fla file like if you was just created it with adobe flash pro or swishmax/swish, but then, that is not always possible, it depends on the code itself, well, the complexity of the swf file, and most importantly, if the swf file is encrypted at a low, medium or at a high level, including other configuration options for the encryption method and implementation in the actual swf file.I use swf decompiler since its first version, i have now the sothink swf decompiler version 4.4, but there is a 4.5 released some time ago, i did not check it recently, but they do update it all the time, they have an inumerous ammount of customers/clients for the program, i know all about it, i love flash technology.

[cyber_electrons 0]

The decompiler works well with importing flash resources. But if the .swf file is protected from import, then it won't work. So if I have design something and want to put it online or something, I would export it with a protect from import password - options available when exporting.

[Nabb 0]

There exist code obfuscators to prevent this sort of decompiling. Off the top of my head, you could google for Amayeta, SWF Protect, and secureSWF. On top of code, I think it is possible to also obfuscate strings and variable names, but I don't see a possibility in obfuscating movie-clips, sound, and other objects created within the Flash IDE (obviously graphics created from code are protected). I suppose it would be possible to reverse-engineer the code from the pseudocode/assembly produced by a decompiler but this is somewhat infeasible for larger scale projects. In the Flash gaming industry, MochiAds (the most common ad platform) provides additional code obfuscation, but I don't really know the extent of how well it works.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Nabb (see edit history)

[andreip 0]

Well it's the best swf decompiler software on the internets. I was amazed too and I've also bought the payed version. It really deserves it.

[freeflashclocks 0]

Does not matter if you protect a swf file with a password in adobe flash export configuration, swf decompiler will deprotect it, it will take off the protection, besides, its engine reads a swf file in a certain way, it's complicated.Amayeta swf encrypt 5.0 is the latest and the one i use by the way, and swf decompiler can decompile protected files from amayeta if they are not encrypted with the high level of encryption.Despite all this, swf decompiler can decompile any swf file except the actionscript if it is protected with a high level obfuscation produced with amayeta tool, all the other sounds, frames, sprites, frame-by-frame animations, et cetera, will be decompiled and available for exportation if the user wants.

[desertfish 0]

In fact i know sothink is a big company,its swf decompiler is good. Recently i m using Moyea swf to video converter std. Anyone know sth about Moyea swf to video converter std?

[ragav.bpl 0]

Yes correctly said for sure.This software and many other out there like this are used to rip off others work in just one minute.A normal person can not just make his work so as it can not be stealed. These software are trying to increase the web piracy level.Some of the things for which this software is used is as follows-You can rip off the games from sites like zapak.comYou can rip off the animation from any websiteThis is not at all acceptable as there is nothing such as copyright thing remains. A person can download and easily modify according to his need. After that it can publish for his own personal use.I hope something comes out as a solution to this problem soon.

[iGuest 3]

Use SecureSWFSothink Swf Decompiler

I use SecureSWF to stop sothink and other decompilers. It works really well!

-reply by Stevens