kosma%human-torch@stc.lockheed.com (Monty Kosma) (06/08/90)
Bottom line.. I won't buy products that are protected, but if I had to make a choice between a dongle and any other form of protection, including disk copy protection, I would NOT choose the dongle. -larry I agree 100%...but with this question for you, Larry: what's your opinion on the "word in the manual" or codewheel types of protection? Do you buy those kind of products? This seems to me to be the most reasonable form of protection: it doesn't really interfere with my work or using a program (at least if it's done right, and I only have to give it the word once per execution, AND it's not something that I have to execute separately many times a day (like, I leave it running for a long time)), and while it may not prevent a person from giving a copy to their friend along with a xeroxed manual, it DOES prevent a faster, more widespread distribution of the program--at least, as long as some pirate doesn't manage to eliminate the codeword stuff from the disk. I don't have any idea how hard this is to do with typical codeword algorithms (you can encrypt stuff on the disk, but if somebody can watchdog the code with a debugger, they might be able to crack it), but I would guess that this has as good a chance if not better at staying uncracked as does disk-based protection. monty
lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (06/08/90)
In <21407@snow-white.udel.EDU>, kosma%human-torch@stc.lockheed.com (Monty Kosma) writes: > Bottom line.. I won't buy products that are protected, but if I had to make a > choice between a dongle and any other form of protection, including disk copy > protection, I would NOT choose the dongle. > > -larry > >I agree 100%...but with this question for you, Larry: what's your opinion >on the "word in the manual" or codewheel types of protection? Do you >buy those kind of products? I have purchased one product that required me to look something up in the manual (Silent Service). I enjoyed the game, and would still, but I gave it away shortly after I tried to play it one evening, and couldn't find the manual (my filing system can best be described as 'sedimentary'). -larry -- The raytracer of justice recurses slowly, but it renders exceedingly fine. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+