info-mac@uw-beaver (02/06/85)
From: Chad Leland Mitchell <M.CHAD@SU-SIERRA.ARPA> Several people have asked that I post the results of my survey on copy protection. 22 people responded. Their overall opinions were: Will not buy Copy Protected Software 3 Favor No Copy Protection 10 Neutral 2 Favor Copy Protection 6 Will not buy Software without Copy Protection 1 Many respondents said that copy protection is OK if it allows them to put their software on a hard disk. Only one person indicated that the Insert Master Once protection (as in MultiPlan) was totally unacceptable. There were also several useful suggestions. I do not want to start a BBoard discussion on copy protection so if you have opinions you would like to express, send the messages directly to me. I just wanted to post the results of the survey. Several people have also asked me to let the BBoard know what the final decision by Great Wave was. Great Wave has decided for the time being that it will not Copy Protect the ConcertWare Package. This is partly based on the fact that all copy protection schemes currently available for the Macintosh would interfere too much with the legitimate use of this product. It is also partly based on the fact that Copy II Mac seems to break all copy protection schemes currently available. Copy protection thus interferes with honest use of the machine while not providing any real protection. ConcertWare is very reasonably priced and not copy protected. Several influential advocates of Copy Protection see it as a test case to prove their point that Software must be a) copy protected and b) expensive to make up for the losses through illegal copies. You have an opportunity to prove them wrong by use of a simple algorithm: 1) if you want a copy of ConcertWare, then buy one; 2) If you buy a copy of ConcertWare then do not distribute illegal copies; 3) If you already have an illegal copy then buy a real one or erase the illegal copy. Inexpensive software that is not Copy Protected is what everyone claims they want. A little simple honesty by the majority of Macintosh users is all it would take. Chad Mitchell Disclaimer: Since I am associated with the ConcertWare group and also with Great Wave Software I will leave it to others to review the product. I have tried not to advocate purchase of the product in this message but rather that those who do want the product (or any other product) pay for it. P.S. The ConcertWare package is not freeware. Distribution of the product to non-purchasers constitutes theft. -------
info-mac@uw-beaver (02/07/85)
From: allegra!watmath!watdcsu!murlocker@uw-beaver.arpa I applaud your decision to NOT copy-protect Concertware and to sell it at a reasonable price. I hope you have great success with this and other packages. I plan on buying Concertware as soon as I can get a good demo of its capabilities. mark