info-mac@uw-beaver (12/31/84)
From: Chad Leland Mitchell <CHAD@SU-SCORE.ARPA> In a week or so, Great Wave Software will begin shipping the ConcertWare Package. This is not an ad. For an ad see p.173 Jan 1985 MacWorld. It is priced lower than MusicWorks and has almost none of the limitations and drawbacks which other BBoard messages have claimed MusicWorks has. This is the first product which Great Wave has published for the Macintosh and they are still undecided about how it will be copy protected when it ships. I helped write the ConcertWare package and my opinions will have some influence on Great Wave's decision about copy protection. As I have read the messages in which people have expressed the desire to influence copy protection decisions, I realized that I could extend that opportunity. Please let me know your opinions, suggestions, and ideas. Your responses may affect not only this product, but future products published by Great Wave. Let me phrase the question from Great Wave's point of view. Suppose that for a product priced under $50 there are three levels of copy protection which might be reasonable: 1: No Protection 2: Simple, easy to break 3: Breakable, but not trivial Level 1 would allow typical users to make backup copies, move the program to a hard disk, etc. With level 2 almost all readers of this BBoard would still be able to make backups and move the program, but typical users could not. Great Wave is of course interested in maximizing total sales (and goodwill, etc.). Some people will not buy the ConcertWare package if it has level 3 protection; some will not buy if it has any protection at all. On the other hand, some people will not "steal" a copy if it is even slightly copy protected while they would not hesitate to copy unprotected disks. Of course many of the people "stealing" copies would not have bought a copy anyway and thus they do not impact sales either way. Does anyone really have any idea how these different groups of potential buyers actually affect sales. I am sure that Great Wave would like the good will associated with trusting people if they thought it would not reduce sales significantly. Thanks, Chad -------