reader@gec-mi-at.co.uk (Glenn Reader) (06/30/89)
While we are discussing software piracy; there is another devious approach. I know this techneque is used in at least one adventure game on the st. It is quite simple. There is no apparant protection. The programme will copy and seem to play ok. Its just that it knows and you can not win. It can be broken by standard techneques for copying protected discs. But why bother - "Hey I just got this great game and its not even protected." I like it, all those frustrating hours and you do not even know. Though maybe it is better value for money (-:. Glenn PS Who thinks they know what game it is. I am not telling.
emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) (07/05/89)
rosenkra@boston.cray.com states : > look: you are missing the point entirely. software by its very nature > cannot be protected. [more stuff, deleted] That was exactly the point I was making. It only requires one whizz-kid to write his/her own floppy driver and pass it around, and you can make *perfect* copies of *any* disk whatever the format, including those sneaky bits some people hide between the sectors. There are probably several subscribers to this group who are entirely capable of such mischief, should they feel motivated. There are probably even more who could work out how to 'gang' two drives together. There are far fewer who dare to tamper with their hardware. The system ROMs can't simply be replaced with EPROMS, and nobody wants the hassle of replacing them each time they need to change their machine ID. To change tack slightly, has anyone ever seen a survey of how pirate software is distributed? Does most of it get "copied from a friend", do high street retailers knowingly/unknowingly sell it - if knowingly, do they offer it 'under the counter'? It seems reasonable to offer genuine software packs to anyone who finds they have bought a pirate copy and supplies the authors with sufficient info to enable them to prosecute - or is prosecution still expensive/futile? Registration can certainly help, and the registration card should certainly be on the outside of the pack, but what happens when auntie Flo buys it for your birthday and the retailer is too busy/lazy to fill it in? It seems absurd to complain that a software house doesn't have the facilities to store registration records - if they don't know how to use a computer then who does? ----- Dave E. -Disclaimer- Well that's MY opinion and I'm sticking to it! (But my employer might not agree..)
rosenkra@hall.cray.com (Bill Rosenkranz) (07/07/89)
In article <228@marvin.moncam.co.uk> emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) writes:
=
=rosenkra@boston.cray.com states :
=
=> look: you are missing the point entirely. software by its very nature
=> cannot be protected.
=[more stuff, deleted]
=
=There are far fewer who dare to tamper with their hardware. The system
=ROMs can't simply be replaced with EPROMS, and nobody wants the hassle
=of replacing them each time they need to change their machine ID.
=
=Dave E.
=
sorry, dave, but i STILL think you have missed the point. let me lay it
out to you: you have a piece of software. it consists of magnitically
aligned bits on a disk or electrically coded bits in memory (on current
h/w which is basically what u will be seeing for say 5 yrs in the mass
market?). ok. now currently you somehow get that coded information
into memory and point the processor to a location in memory where the
program instruction start. at this point, it is possible to copy the image
of the program as it exists to disk and start cracking, no matter what
is on the original disk. just start disassembling. if a section of code
contains copy protection, checking ROM serial numbers, etc, just REMOVE
the code or branch around it. simple.
now it is really not THAT simple because disassembled source may be 5x
the original executable in size so it may take hours/days/weeks/months
to crack, BUT IF SOMEONE __REALLY__ WANTS TO CRACK IT, IT ___WILL___ BE
CRACKED!!!! do u understand, now? what you are advocating is simply
more aggrivation for the people who actually BUY the product, the very
people whose boots the developer (i, amongst them) should be licking.
no, the real question is "do i really have the intestinal fortitude to
put up with this flakey business [low end software]?" the serious players
in the s/w industry sell to the fortune 1000, not to joe user. they KNOW
that some of joe user's friend are just going to rip them off. if that
is acceptible from an ROI standpoint, they stay in the game. otherwise,
they go back to a reliable marketplace, the commercial world where a contract
or license agreement is actually looked at seriously because there is
lots at stake.
for me, the ideal product for mass market computer is the hardware emulators
(mac, pc) which have software, yes, but now MUST have some hardware
present to function. i s'pose even they are not foolproof and will be
duplicated, perhaps to use native h/w in the system.
-bill
rosenkra@boston.cray.com