Project Astoria Tools Leaked

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Ben_NC

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As for people using the tool for 'cracked apps'.. I can't say that across the board. There are many other 'app stores' besides Google's. Just because an app or game is an .apk doesn't automatically make it 'cracked'. There are numerous Android Consoles, Mini-PCs, etc that use side-loaded .APKs all the time. And Android is NOT a closed system, hence the many forks. Someone go tell Amazon that they're breaking the law, because they build that Fire TV console, running an Android fork, and providing they're own .apk distribution service. LOL.
 

RumoredNow

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I submit that running the apk through the Tool, unless you are the Developer who wrote the code, cracks the apk.

I don't know what else you would explain it as.
 

realwarder

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As for people using the tool for 'cracked apps'.. I can't say that across the board. There are many other 'app stores' besides Google's. Just because an app or game is an .apk doesn't automatically make it 'cracked'. There are numerous Android Consoles, Mini-PCs, etc that use side-loaded .APKs all the time. And Android is NOT a closed system, hence the many forks. Someone go tell Amazon that they're breaking the law, because they build that Fire TV console, running an Android fork, and providing they're own .apk distribution service. LOL.
This is true. On my Kindle Fire I sometimes side load Firefox nightly builds from the Firefox website. All totally legal and one of the benefits of an 'open' platform.

Yes, some will abuse the system but most users will never download anything outside the stores.
Right now people are excited to see what the tool is capable of and so there will be illegal testing happening.. But I doubt that will be the norm later.

The videos I've seen look impressive. Looking forward to Android developers releasing their apps into the Windows store! After all, Windows mobile will likely be a more secure place to run Android apps than Android phones :)
 

realwarder

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I submit that running the apk through the Tool, unless you are the Developer who wrote the code, cracks the apk.

I don't know what else you would explain it as.

Actually running an unmodified apk on Windows phone is not cracking anything.

Code is just running as intended on a Java interpreter.

Now the tool that rips out Google services is most definitely cracking. But in many instances that would not be necessary.

And of course the legality of running an apk is a separate conversation based on source.
 

Laura Knotek

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This is true. On my Kindle Fire I sometimes side load Firefox nightly builds from the Firefox website. All totally legal and one of the benefits of an 'open' platform.

Yes, some will abuse the system but most users will never download anything outside the stores.
Right now people are excited to see what the tool is capable of and so there will be illegal testing happening.. But I doubt that will be the norm later.

The videos I've seen look impressive. Looking forward to Android developers releasing their apps into the Windows store! After all, Windows mobile will likely be a more secure place to run Android apps than Android phones :)
I also use Firefox Nightly on my Android devices, as well as on my Windows and Linux PCs.

My concern about this leak is that dishonest people will use it to crack Android apps. We already have issues involving Windows developers having their code stolen and seeing copies of their apps in the Windows Store.
 

mikeclan

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i wonder why the mods dont understand that this is not illegal. There are not altering of the applications themself, its like running windows on a mac...thats not supported by microsoft, but not illegal.
 

Laura Knotek

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i wonder why the mods dont understand that this is not illegal. There are not altering of the applications themself, its like running windows on a mac...thats not supported by microsoft, but not illegal.
Running Windows on a Mac is perfectly legal as long as one has a retail version of Windows that he/she purchased. However, running a pirated version of Windows on a Mac is illegal.

It is up to developers to use Project Astoria to port their Android apps to the Windows Store. That is legal. Regular users taking Android apps and using them on Windows 10 Mobile is not legal.

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Ben_NC

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Running Windows on a Mac is perfectly legal as long as one has a retail version of Windows that he/she purchased. However, running a pirated version of Windows on a Mac is illegal.

It is up to developers to use Project Astoria to port their Android apps to the Windows Store. That is legal. Regular users taking Android apps and using them on Windows 10 Mobile is not legal.


I have a llegally purchased app from an alternative android app store. The app store allows purchasers to save a back-up of the app (in apk format of course). ... So it would be illegal for me to run my app on Windows Mobile, even though I purchased and own my copy of the app? I don't know why it would be ok to run even a legal copy of Windows on any other device but Windows, under that reasoning.

But really.. I think the whole deal is that no one wants people getting illigal copies of apps. I agree. But to say iit's ok to have or put an app or os on a device in one instance, but not ok in another exact SAME instance... is playing favorites.
 

FinancialP

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Someone go tell Amazon that they're breaking the law, because they build that Fire TV console, running an Android fork, and providing they're own .apk distribution service. LOL.

You left out a huge point that Amazon makes deals with developers. Amazon isn't a rogue company that sits back and just gathers apks and distributes them.

As for this tool, it's blackberry 2 years ago. Look at the strides BB10 has made /s
 

RumoredNow

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This is not an emulator. It does not simply run the app as is. It alters the app which is based on some person's intellectual property and is no one else's to alter except under very narrow instances of licensing.

I think that, by and large, most apk's are not "free and open" licensed. I'm sure there are some, but do not imagine it is a statistically relevant portion of the Apps people are after with this "methodology."

In terms of other stores outside of Play (Amazon being one mentioned) it is hoped that the App developer has placed the App there knowingly and has an agreement with the store. In those cases, yes, it is perfectly commonplace to peruse and use apps under the Terms Of Service of that store. In the cases where the App developer has not placed the App and has no agreement with the store that is piracy even if the original is a "free" App. Piracy is not necessarily about money, although that is the most actionable instance. Rather, Piracy is the infringement on the Intellectual Property Rights of the owner. Refer back to the licensing of the work and the TOS of the source where you acquired it.
 

Laura Knotek

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For what it is worth, as an interested party I have familiarized myself with aspects of the DMCA.

It's great reading. :D

http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
"Doesn't 'open source' just mean something is free of charge?

No. This is a common misconception about what "open source" implies. Programmers can charge money for the open source software they create or to which they contribute. But because most open source licenses require them to release their source code when they sell software to others, many open source software programmers find that charging users money for software services and support (rather than for the software itself) is more lucrative. This way, their software remains free of charge and they make money helping others install, use, and troubleshoot it."

http://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source

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ADeltaX

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(Copy paste from a closed thread [just to make an unique thread and prevent threads with same contents])

Hello guys,
Project Astoria use Android version 4.4.4 (That's why apk based on Lollipop 5.x doesn't work (it's freeze on -waiting for device-)):

Build: KTU84Q test-keys
Build fingerprint: 'Android/ArcadiaArm/ArcadiaArm:4.4.4/KTU84Q/eng.osgstrsa.20150623.123002:user/test-keys'


The kernel version is 3,4,0:

Kernel: Linux version 3.4.0-Microsoft (Microsoft [AT] Microsoft,com) (gcc version 4.7 (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Dec 31 14:42:53 PST 2014


Project Astoria is running in a virtual machine "Hyper-V" (That's why it doesn't work on 512 MB RAM devices):

Command line: initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 rw androidboot.hardware=hyperv console=tty0 console=ttyS0 video=hyperv_fb:1024x768 BOOT_IMAGE=/kernel​
.

The OS is running with test-keys signature and it has SU binary installed.



Memory info:

MemTotal: 1031052 kB
MemFree: 680736 kB
Buffers : 34032 kB
Cached : 188576 kB
SwapCached : 0 kB
Active : 167556 kB
Inactive : 157876 kB
Active(anon) : 103104 kB
Inactive(anon) : 17440 kB
Active(file) : 64452 kB
Inactive(file) : 140436 kB​
Unevictable : 0 kB
Mlocked : 0 kB
HighTotal : 139208 kB
HighFree : 272 kB
LowTotal : 891844 kB
LowFree : 680464 kB
SwapTotal : 0 kB
SwapFree : 0 kB
Dirty : 0 kB
Writeback : 0 kB
AnonPages : 102824 kB
Mapped : 71404 kB
Shmem : 17720 kB
Slab : 13868 kB
SReclaimable : 6744 kB
SUnreclaim : 7124 kB
KernelStack : 2848 kB
PageTables : 2524 kB
NFS_Unstable : 0 kB
Bounce : 0 kB
WritebackTmp : 0 kB
CommitLimit : 515524 kB
Committed_AS : 3450064 kB
VmallocTotal : 122880 kB
VmallocUsed : 21296 kB
VmallocChunk : 66044 kB
DirectMap4k : 12280 kB
DirectMap4M : 897024 kB

Running processes info:

see the Attachment

DUMPED Astoria system! [Uploading...] (Wait about 1-2 hours because my connection is very slow)

Attached build.prop
 

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Bla1ze

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I'm not here to argue about platforms or anything but honestly, reading through this thread... as a BlackBerry users I can't help but see all the exact same discussions here as on CrackBerry with the BlackBerry 10 Android Runtime. I know MS implied it's different but really, it doesn't seem to be at this point. All the same errors and issues you all are having, are the same errors BlackBerry users had to deal with in regards to sideloading Android apps when it was introduced. No Google Play Services, apps not working, app crashes etc etc. I find this incredibly interesting to follow and look forward to seeing the progress you folks make.
 

Laura Knotek

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I'm not here to argue about platforms or anything but honestly, reading through this thread... as a BlackBerry users I can't help but see all the exact same discussions here as on CrackBerry with the BlackBerry 10 Android Runtime. I know MS implied it's different but really, it doesn't seem to be at this point. All the same errors and issues you all are having, are the same errors BlackBerry users had to deal with in regards to sideloading Android apps when it was introduced. No Google Play Services, apps not working, app crashes etc etc. I find this incredibly interesting to follow and look forward to seeing the progress you folks make.
The other big issue is that native BlackBerry app development pretty much disappeared.
 

Matt Addy

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so basically I tested this out, found some problems, fixed those problems and then couldn't find any apps that I actually wanted to download. guess the app gap is a lot smaller than it used to be :p
 
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