diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/MessageUtil.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/MessageUtil.java
index 1ecc828..41d9e9e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/MessageUtil.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/util/MessageUtil.java
@@ -7,6 +7,34 @@ package com.threerings.getdown.util;
 
 public class MessageUtil {
 
+    /**
+     * Returns whether or not the provided string is tainted. See {@link #taint}. Null strings
+     * are considered untainted.
+     */
+    public static boolean isTainted (String text)
+    {
+        return text != null && text.startsWith(TAINT_CHAR);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call this to "taint" any string that has been entered by an entity outside the application
+     * so that the translation code knows not to attempt to translate this string when doing
+     * recursive translations.
+     */
+    public static String taint (Object text)
+    {
+        return TAINT_CHAR + text;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Removes the tainting character added to a string by {@link #taint}. If the provided string
+     * is not tainted, this silently returns the originally provided string.
+     */
+    public static String untaint (String text)
+    {
+        return isTainted(text) ? text.substring(TAINT_CHAR.length()) : text;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Composes a message key with an array of arguments. The message can subsequently be
      * decomposed and translated without prior knowledge of how many arguments were provided.
@@ -46,16 +74,6 @@ public class MessageUtil {
         return compose(key, (Object[]) args);
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Call this to "taint" any string that has been entered by an entity outside the application
-     * so that the translation code knows not to attempt to translate this string when doing
-     * recursive translations.
-     */
-    public static String taint (Object text)
-    {
-        return TAINT_CHAR + text;
-    }
-
     /**
      * A convenience method for calling {@link #compose(String,Object[])} with an array of
      * arguments that will be automatically tainted (see {@link #taint}).
@@ -82,6 +100,44 @@ public class MessageUtil {
         return compose(key, args);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Used to escape single quotes so that they are not interpreted by <code>MessageFormat</code>.
+     * As we assume all single quotes are to be escaped, we cannot use the characters
+     * <code>{</code> and <code>}</code> in our translation strings, but this is a small price to
+     * pay to have to differentiate between messages that will and won't eventually be parsed by a
+     * <code>MessageFormat</code> instance.
+     */
+    public static String escape (String message)
+    {
+        return message.replace("'", "''");
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Unescapes characters that are escaped in a call to compose.
+     */
+    public static String unescape (String value)
+    {
+        int bsidx = value.indexOf('\\');
+        if (bsidx == -1) {
+            return value;
+        }
+
+        StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder();
+        int vlength = value.length();
+        for (int ii = 0; ii < vlength; ii++) {
+            char ch = value.charAt(ii);
+            if (ch != '\\' || ii == vlength-1) {
+                buf.append(ch);
+            } else {
+                // look at the next character
+                ch = value.charAt(++ii);
+                buf.append((ch == '!') ? '|' : ch);
+            }
+        }
+
+        return buf.toString();
+    }
+
     /** Text prefixed by this character will be considered tainted when doing recursive
      * translations and won't be translated. */
     protected static final String TAINT_CHAR = "~";
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/AbortPanel.java b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/AbortPanel.java
index ff7fe68..16b2eb2 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/AbortPanel.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/AbortPanel.java
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ import javax.swing.JPanel;
 import com.samskivert.swing.GroupLayout;
 import com.samskivert.swing.Spacer;
 import com.samskivert.swing.VGroupLayout;
-import com.samskivert.text.MessageUtil;
 
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.MessageUtil;
 import static com.threerings.getdown.Log.log;
 
 /**
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
index 48e7ff3..1718107 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
@@ -41,9 +41,6 @@ import ca.beq.util.win32.registry.RegistryValue;
 import ca.beq.util.win32.registry.RootKey;
 
 import com.samskivert.swing.util.SwingUtil;
-import com.samskivert.text.MessageUtil;
-import com.samskivert.util.RunAnywhere;
-import com.samskivert.util.StringUtil;
 
 import com.threerings.getdown.data.Application.UpdateInterface.Step;
 import com.threerings.getdown.data.Application;
@@ -57,8 +54,10 @@ import com.threerings.getdown.util.Config;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.ConnectionUtil;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.FileUtil;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.LaunchUtil;
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.MessageUtil;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.ProgressAggregator;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.ProgressObserver;
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.StringUtil;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.VersionUtil;
 
 import static com.threerings.getdown.Log.log;
@@ -239,7 +238,7 @@ public abstract class Getdown extends Thread
         }
 
         // look in the Vinders registry
-        if (RunAnywhere.isWindows()) {
+        if (LaunchUtil.isWindows()) {
             try {
                 String host = null, port = null;
                 boolean enabled = false;
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/GetdownApp.java b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/GetdownApp.java
index 90ab720..2dbb507 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/GetdownApp.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/GetdownApp.java
@@ -29,11 +29,9 @@ import javax.swing.JFrame;
 import javax.swing.WindowConstants;
 
 import com.samskivert.swing.util.SwingUtil;
-import com.samskivert.util.ArrayUtil;
-import com.samskivert.util.RunAnywhere;
-
 import com.threerings.getdown.data.Digest;
 import com.threerings.getdown.data.SysProps;
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.LaunchUtil;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.StringUtil;
 import static com.threerings.getdown.Log.log;
 
@@ -79,7 +77,7 @@ public class GetdownApp
 
         // pass along anything after that as app args
         String[] appArgs = (aidx >= args.size()) ? null :
-            args.subList(aidx, args.size()).toArray(ArrayUtil.EMPTY_STRING);
+            args.subList(aidx, args.size()).toArray(new String[0]);
 
         // ensure a valid directory was supplied
         File appDir = new File(adarg);
@@ -200,7 +198,7 @@ public class GetdownApp
                     return;
                 }
                 String[] cmdarray;
-                if (RunAnywhere.isWindows()) {
+                if (LaunchUtil.isWindows()) {
                     String osName = System.getProperty("os.name", "");
                     if (osName.indexOf("9") != -1 || osName.indexOf("Me") != -1) {
                         cmdarray = new String[] {
@@ -209,7 +207,7 @@ public class GetdownApp
                         cmdarray = new String[] {
                             "cmd.exe", "/c", "start", "\"\"", "\"" + url + "\"" };
                     }
-                } else if (RunAnywhere.isMacOS()) {
+                } else if (LaunchUtil.isMacOS()) {
                     cmdarray = new String[] { "open", url };
                 } else { // Linux, Solaris, etc.
                     cmdarray = new String[] { "firefox", url };
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/ProxyPanel.java b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/ProxyPanel.java
index 0982c15..341bff4 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/ProxyPanel.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/ProxyPanel.java
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ import javax.swing.JTextField;
 import com.samskivert.swing.GroupLayout;
 import com.samskivert.swing.Spacer;
 import com.samskivert.swing.VGroupLayout;
-import com.samskivert.text.MessageUtil;
 
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.MessageUtil;
 import static com.threerings.getdown.Log.log;
 
 /**
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/StatusPanel.java b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/StatusPanel.java
index cfaa21e..b171861 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/StatusPanel.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/StatusPanel.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
 import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
 import java.awt.image.ImageObserver;
 import java.text.MessageFormat;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.MissingResourceException;
 import java.util.ResourceBundle;
 
@@ -24,12 +25,12 @@ import javax.swing.Timer;
 import com.samskivert.swing.Label;
 import com.samskivert.swing.LabelStyleConstants;
 import com.samskivert.swing.util.SwingUtil;
-import com.samskivert.text.MessageUtil;
-import com.samskivert.util.StringUtil;
 import com.samskivert.util.Throttle;
 
 import com.threerings.getdown.data.Application.UpdateInterface;
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.MessageUtil;
 import com.threerings.getdown.util.Rectangle;
+import com.threerings.getdown.util.StringUtil;
 
 import static com.threerings.getdown.Log.log;
 
@@ -323,7 +324,7 @@ public final class StatusPanel extends JComponent
         } else {
             String key = compoundKey.substring(0, tidx);
             String argstr = compoundKey.substring(tidx+1);
-            String[] args = StringUtil.split(argstr, "|");
+            String[] args = argstr.split("\\|");
             // unescape and translate the arguments
             for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
                 // if the argument is tainted, do no further translation
@@ -339,12 +340,11 @@ public final class StatusPanel extends JComponent
     }
 
     /** Used by {@link #setStatus}. */
-    protected String get (String key, Object[] args)
+    protected String get (String key, String[] args)
     {
         String msg = get(key);
-        return (msg != null) ?
-            MessageFormat.format(MessageUtil.escape(msg), args)
-            : (key + StringUtil.toString(args));
+        if (msg != null) return MessageFormat.format(MessageUtil.escape(msg), (Object[])args);
+        return key + String.valueOf(Arrays.asList(args));
     }
 
     /** Used by {@link #setStatus}, and {@link #setProgress}. */