by Katherine Noyes at technewsworld
Prefab doesn't touch an application's source code. It gets its apparently unlimited capabilities for modifying software by futzing with the pixels that display on the screen. The companies that issue software licenses -- and their lawyers -- may be less sanguine about the tool's potential than its developers and the many computer users who might like to customize their desktops.
A new tool developed at the University of Washington has the potential to make all software effectively open source -- in a way.
Rather than manipulating the software's code, however, the application -- dubbed "Prefab" -- hijacks what it displays and makes it customizable.
"Microsoft and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) aren't going to open up all their stuff, but they all create programs that put pixels on the screen," explained James Fogarty, the assistant professor of computer science and engineering who is leading the project. "And if we can modify those pixels, then we can change the program's apparent behavior."
Because Prefab works from the pixels of the interface, "we can't see anything that's not included in the interface," Fogarty told LinuxInsider. "We're not opening the source of the application itself."
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