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Former kernel developer here. SoftIce was one of those "magical software" that made things possible. Before, you would need two computers connected via a seria
by shin_lao 7y ago
Former kernel developer here.
SoftIce was one of those "magical software" that made things possible. Before, you would need two computers connected via a serial port to do actual kernel debugging.
When VMWare arrived, SoftIce was becoming less useful, because a virtual machine offers better isolation and you can quickly revert to a previous state. When doing, for example, file system development, trashing a computer would not be rare.
By then, I know my setup was VMWare machines + MSFT WinDbg. Also, I could stop my VM and inspect the VM with a hex editor. Potent combo.
In parallel, during that time, I suspect the cost of developing SoftIce exploded: more updates from MSFT, a lot of security features that would prevent SoftIce from working, new features from the CPU like hardware protection of the RAM, etc.
Last, the most significant user base of SoftIce was broke hackers who would use it to crack protections. Unsurprisingly, those guys didn't have a license.
Awesome product, but makes sense it faded out.