5 ms·

Micropatching Brings the Abandoned Equation Editor Back to Life (2018)

50 points by bariumbitmap 5mo ago

p0w3n3d 4mo ago
It's quite a sad story, when people working in Microsoft used to be the experts of all experts on Windows, and at the present moment people from outside know Windows better... It seems like the only people left in there are maintainers...
- wolfi1 4mo ago
  I guess it's prompt writers
- jeroenhd 4mo ago
  Microsoft last patched the tool by manually patching the binary executable. It seems like they don't have the source code for the tool anymore. There was also a long string of vulnerabilities in the tool, which seems to have stopped being updated at source level somewhere around 2000 based on the copyright in the screenshot. MS should write an alternative to the tool (and I believe they have done so at some point in modern versions of Office), but removing this piece of abandonware was the right call.
  - Someone 4mo ago
    > It seems like they don't have the source code for the tool anymore I think they never owned the source code. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_shared_tools#Equation_Editor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_shared_tools#...: “Equation Editor was a formula editor developed by Design Science that allowed users to construct math and science equations in a WYSIWYG environment, and was included in Microsoft Office and several other commercial applications. It was a simplified version of Design Science's MathType” > MS should write an alternative to the tool (and I believe they have done so at some point in modern versions of Office) Indeed, and the first version they did that in cannot be called modern anymore. From that same page: “Beginning with Office 2007, Equation Editor is no longer the default method of creating equations, and is kept for compatibility with old documents only. Instead, a reengineered equation editor is included”
    - 2b3a51 4mo ago
      Going back to the Windows 95/98 era and Windows 2k at work I remember a link or line of text in one of the Equation Editor dialogs where they said you could upgrade to the full MathType. It is the compatibility with old documents that could be an issue with Microsoft's complete removal of the old Equation Editor. I suppose anyone dealing with legacy documents should be using a vm with Win2000 and Office 2000 really.
      - Someone 4mo ago
        > It is the compatibility with old documents that could be an issue with Microsoft's complete removal of the old Equation Editor https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/equation-editor-6eac7d71-3c74-437b-80d3-c7dea24fdf3f https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/equation-editor-6...: “Equation Editor 3.0 objects will still display normally if you have MT Extra font installed (if you don't have the font, you can download it)” I think the equation is an OLE object with a preview image.
- ndiddy 4mo ago
  If you look at the first binary patch for Equation Editor, it's very well done: https://blog.0patch.com/2017/11/did-microsoft-just-manually-patch-their.html https://blog.0patch.com/2017/11/did-microsoft-just-manually-... . The problem was that when they fixed it once, other researchers started fuzzing Equation Editor and found many more bugs. Bringing a C++ program from 2000 up to modern security standards when you don't have the source code isn't really feasible, it would be an endless series of whack-a-mole binary patches. I don't really blame Microsoft for dropping support, especially when there's been a replacement equation editor in Office since 2007.
serhack_ 4mo ago
I just wished there could be something easy to replace this equation editor, it's really smooth for people that are not really proficient with LaTeX
- samlittlewood 4mo ago
  How about Eric Lengyel's equation editor: https://radicalpie.com https://radicalpie.com
  - rustyhancock 4mo ago
    There are also many suitable web versions such as https://editor.codecogs.com/ https://editor.codecogs.com/ You can then download the image. The only thing I think they should add is the equation string as a comment to the images so you can upload and continue editing without a proprietary file format.
    - password4321 4mo ago
      > the equation string as a comment to the images Yes some diagramming tools do this when exporting to PNG, this is a great feature
- hasley 4mo ago
  In PowerPoint, I am a happy user of IguanaTex [1]. There are also some other PlugIns like TeXsword. But I have not tested them. And newer MS Office versions seem to support Latex macros directly. [2] [1] https://github.com/Jonathan-LeRoux/IguanaTex https://github.com/Jonathan-LeRoux/IguanaTex [2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/linear-format-equations-using-unicodemath-and-latex-in-word-2e00618d-b1fd-49d8-8cb4-8d17f25754f8 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/linear-format-equ...
- electroly 4mo ago
  Microsoft wrote their own replacement and it's better-integrated into Office than the old editor was. Search for "insert equation" in the Office search box. The new one supports both the old editor's style of input and actual LaTeX inputs. Heed the dates on articles talking about it: TFA is from 2018 before they wrote the new editor.
soegaard 4mo ago
The version Microsoft used is discontinued. However, you can just buy a license of the new product. https://www.wiris.com/en/mathtype/ https://www.wiris.com/en/mathtype/
- avemg 4mo ago
  This is mentioned right in the article itself.

50 points by bariumbitmap 5mo ago

It's quite a sad story, when people working in Microsoft used to be the experts of all experts on Windows, and at the present moment people from outside know Windows better... It seems like the only people left in there are maintainers...

wolfi1 4mo ago
I guess it's prompt writers
jeroenhd 4mo ago
Microsoft last patched the tool by manually patching the binary executable. It seems like they don't have the source code for the tool anymore. There was also a long string of vulnerabilities in the tool, which seems to have stopped being updated at source level somewhere around 2000 based on the copyright in the screenshot. MS should write an alternative to the tool (and I believe they have done so at some point in modern versions of Office), but removing this piece of abandonware was the right call.
- Someone 4mo ago
  > It seems like they don't have the source code for the tool anymore I think they never owned the source code. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_shared_tools#Equation_Editor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_shared_tools#...: “Equation Editor was a formula editor developed by Design Science that allowed users to construct math and science equations in a WYSIWYG environment, and was included in Microsoft Office and several other commercial applications. It was a simplified version of Design Science's MathType” > MS should write an alternative to the tool (and I believe they have done so at some point in modern versions of Office) Indeed, and the first version they did that in cannot be called modern anymore. From that same page: “Beginning with Office 2007, Equation Editor is no longer the default method of creating equations, and is kept for compatibility with old documents only. Instead, a reengineered equation editor is included”
  - 2b3a51 4mo ago
    Going back to the Windows 95/98 era and Windows 2k at work I remember a link or line of text in one of the Equation Editor dialogs where they said you could upgrade to the full MathType. It is the compatibility with old documents that could be an issue with Microsoft's complete removal of the old Equation Editor. I suppose anyone dealing with legacy documents should be using a vm with Win2000 and Office 2000 really.
    - Someone 4mo ago
      > It is the compatibility with old documents that could be an issue with Microsoft's complete removal of the old Equation Editor https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/equation-editor-6eac7d71-3c74-437b-80d3-c7dea24fdf3f https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/equation-editor-6...: “Equation Editor 3.0 objects will still display normally if you have MT Extra font installed (if you don't have the font, you can download it)” I think the equation is an OLE object with a preview image.
ndiddy 4mo ago
If you look at the first binary patch for Equation Editor, it's very well done: https://blog.0patch.com/2017/11/did-microsoft-just-manually-patch-their.html https://blog.0patch.com/2017/11/did-microsoft-just-manually-... . The problem was that when they fixed it once, other researchers started fuzzing Equation Editor and found many more bugs. Bringing a C++ program from 2000 up to modern security standards when you don't have the source code isn't really feasible, it would be an endless series of whack-a-mole binary patches. I don't really blame Microsoft for dropping support, especially when there's been a replacement equation editor in Office since 2007.

serhack_ 4mo ago

I just wished there could be something easy to replace this equation editor, it's really smooth for people that are not really proficient with LaTeX

samlittlewood 4mo ago
How about Eric Lengyel's equation editor: https://radicalpie.com https://radicalpie.com
- rustyhancock 4mo ago
  There are also many suitable web versions such as https://editor.codecogs.com/ https://editor.codecogs.com/ You can then download the image. The only thing I think they should add is the equation string as a comment to the images so you can upload and continue editing without a proprietary file format.
  - password4321 4mo ago
    > the equation string as a comment to the images Yes some diagramming tools do this when exporting to PNG, this is a great feature
hasley 4mo ago
In PowerPoint, I am a happy user of IguanaTex [1]. There are also some other PlugIns like TeXsword. But I have not tested them. And newer MS Office versions seem to support Latex macros directly. [2] [1] https://github.com/Jonathan-LeRoux/IguanaTex https://github.com/Jonathan-LeRoux/IguanaTex [2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/linear-format-equations-using-unicodemath-and-latex-in-word-2e00618d-b1fd-49d8-8cb4-8d17f25754f8 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/linear-format-equ...
electroly 4mo ago
Microsoft wrote their own replacement and it's better-integrated into Office than the old editor was. Search for "insert equation" in the Office search box. The new one supports both the old editor's style of input and actual LaTeX inputs. Heed the dates on articles talking about it: TFA is from 2018 before they wrote the new editor.

soegaard 4mo ago

The version Microsoft used is discontinued. However, you can just buy a license of the new product. https://www.wiris.com/en/mathtype/ https://www.wiris.com/en/mathtype/

avemg 4mo ago
This is mentioned right in the article itself.