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back to article Google gives away its internal $200 patch analysis tool for free

Google has released its popular BinDiff patch analysis plug-in for free, dropping its previous US$200 price tag. The tool is loved among security engineers who find it useful when analysing vendor patches and comparing binaries. Freeing the tool will help alleviate the cost of patch and malware analysis for independent …

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  1. santoy

    so is it $1200 or $200 ?

    1 1 Reply
    1. Halfmad
      Reply Icon

      I know it's early but at least try to read the next line..

      "The move to give it away is the "next logical step" Blichmann says."

      Yes el'reg has taken a few sentences to explain "it's free now" to inflate the length of the story somewhat but we all do that now and again, that's no excuse to stop reading, sip your morning coffee and pick your nose rather than continuing for just a handful of words when el'reg finally get around to stating what is a perfectly acceptable and short statement from a guy. It just seems rather pointless to repeat the same thing "It's free" when they've said that in the title and in the first few lines of the story, at least that's my opinion. Not that it matters much.

      TL;DR Yes it's free.

      6 2 Reply
  2. Christopher O'Neill

    So, was it $1200 or $200?

    2 1 Reply
    1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Yes.

      Read the article again.

      1 2 Reply
      1. 1Rafayal
        Reply Icon

        Re: Yes.

        It's free. But can only be with another piece of software that is $589 and up in price

        1 0 Reply
    2. DuncanL
      Reply Icon

      It's a poorly structured article - the headline goes for the big splashy number, but the article then mentions the current $200 price before later mentioning that the price before Google bought the product was $1200.

      So confusing, but technically correct.

      2 1 Reply
  3. Velv
    Boffin

    Call me cynical, but one of the advantages of paid for tools is that there is a profit market for innovation and diversity. If all researchers use the same free tools they run the risk of making the same mistakes in their research.

    OpenSSL was/is a great security library for developers. Open source is great because anyone can read the source code and find any bugs. It all fell down when it turned out nobody had read the source code and it had quite a serious bug.

    0 0 Reply
  4. frank ly

    I'm happy

    ... that I didn't buy one before the price dropped. That's always annoying.

    1 1 Reply
    1. 1Rafayal
      Reply Icon

      Re: I'm happy

      It's a plugin for IDA pro, which you need to buy....

      0 0 Reply
      1. Snowy Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: I'm happy

        @1Rafayal The next logical step would also make IDA pro free too?

        1 1 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I'm happy

          @Snowy

          Logical to you, maybe, because you want it for free :) [Always worth a try!!]

          Real odds are less likely than finding Unicorns on Mars as proof of supporting life.

          It is in a market that it totally controls and can set any price it wants.

          The usual consequence is to raise the price higher as the total cost has now gone down in real terms if you include the previous price of Bindiff.

          Welcome to Economics 101 AKA 'Fill yer Boots' while you can. :)

          0 2 Reply
        2. 1Rafayal
          Reply Icon

          Re: I'm happy

          I don't really see how that is logical..

          0 1 Reply

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