jmsellens@watmath.UUCP (John M Sellens) (08/11/84)
I've been thinking about this for a little while, and would like your opinions on whethere or not it is a good idea. Imagine buying a small board, at a very modest price, which contains (almost) nothing but empty sockets. Imagine that every time you buy a protected package, you get a small PROM to insert in one of your sockets. Imagine that every time you start the program, it looks to see whether or not your PROM is there. As I see it: Advantages: - When your machine breaks, you can simply(?) move your board/PROM to a different machine. - Can put on a hard disk (without needing some sort of 'key' diskette) and can make an arbitrary number of backup copies. - Can sell your copy of the software, but it is impossible to keep a usable copy for yourself. - No more weird diskettes. Disadvantages: - Requires cooperation between IBM and a mess of software manufacturers. - Requires a (short?) slot. - Large(?) initial outlay? - What if you zap your PROM by some freak of nature?? - Like any other protection scheme, it would be possible to patch out the protection code, but I would guess that this would be acceptable since I would perceive the product as more acceptable to the public i.e. I don't buy copy-protected software if I can help it at all, simply because it's a drag to use. - Requires reserved locations in memory or something that restricts the hardware a little (I don't know enough to comment accurately on such things). Comments?? John M Sellens UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!jmsellens CSNET: jmsellens%watmath@waterloo.csnet ARPA: jmsellens%watmath%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) (08/13/84)
[] What's to keep me from duplicating the PROM and giving my friends a copy? -- Ed Nather {allegra,ihnp4}!{ut-sally,noao}!utastro!nather Astronomy Dept., U. of Texas, Austin
slag@charm.UUCP (Peter Rosenthal) (08/16/84)
slurp slurp problem #1: You can patch out the code.( already mentioned) problem #2: You could copy the prom. problem #3: There is no 3.