emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) (06/29/89)
My twopenneth for what it's worth... I tend to 'roll my own', the decision as to whether to buy or write it myself seems to boil down to my being prepared to pay about a pound for each estimated week's work saved by buying instead. (sorry if that sounds mean) I don't know anyone who can offer me pirated software, so I can only say I doubt whether I'd PAY for a ripped off copy, but I confess I might be tempted to use it if it were given to me. Certainly I was annoyed to find that a 'bargain' audio tape was only a very good copy, but sadly, not enough to inform the law enforcement peeps (who would have confiscated it). I used to get *really* annoyed when bought software didn't come up to expectations, but if I buy any more, I've got somewhere to shout about it now, amongst other potential buyers. More likely I'll read about it here first without the bias often found in magazine reviews. I tend to use PD software, since I often want to modify the source, and I have easy access to lots of this. Having played nethack (a form of dungeons & nasties- new 'C' source to be broadcast soon), no other game interests me. That aside, I have made donations for a couple of shareware programmes I used on the QL (don't laugh!), and felt more than happy to do so. The authors probably got as much that way as they would have in royalties anyway. The only lasting solution otherwise lies with the hardware people. One *crude* and probably non-workable example is.. each machine has a scrambler in its databus/floppy drive path and an ID which represents the configuration used on that particular machine. Software houses supply disks directly to purchasers, suitably encrypted for his/her machine's ID - a pirate copy *probably* won't work on YOUR machine unless the pirate is prepared to decrypt/reencrypt, and he/she will not want the hassle when there's easier money to be made.. Certainly the designers *could* do something to help. Just food for thought. Oh, and I do realise that 'small time' pirates would be able to transfer via modem etc.. there'll always be ways. Slightly less feasible is to put an ID in each ROM set, and write the disk driver to only accept ID=0 on disk (user's own disks) or ID=disk ID. The bought software would then either abort or cripple itself if the disk ID was 0 Less feasible? Well the manufactors would have to use non- mask type ROMs (an extra pound per chip), and an intelligent programmer to change a longword counter each time, two major deviations from 'normal' practice. Data piracy is a major headache to the typo department of my employers, we have to embed an ID into each of our machines -I won't say how- and code every single font disk, but they obviously feel its worth the small extra effort. Gosh, don't I go on... ____ 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) (07/04/89)
In article <223@marvin.moncam.co.uk> emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) writes:
=*The only lasting solution otherwise lies with the hardware
=*people. One *crude* and probably non-workable example is..
=*each machine has a scrambler in its databus/floppy drive path
=*and an ID which represents the configuration used on that
=*particular machine. Software houses supply disks directly
=*to purchasers, suitably encrypted for his/her machine's ID
=...
=*Slightly less feasible is to put an ID in each ROM set,
=*and write the disk driver to only accept ID=0 on disk (user's
=*own disks) or ID=disk ID. The bought software would then
=*either abort or cripple itself if the disk ID was 0
look: you are missing the point entirely. software by its very nature
cannot be protected. whether on ROM (you can easily disassemble the
ST ROM code), on disk, etc., if someone wants to crack it, it CAN be
done. you name a (reasonable) scheme and i can figure out a way to
break it. and if i can't SOMEONE can. doorlocks on cars and often
elaborate alarms are supposed to stop car theives. maybe they can
stop someone who only has 15 seconds to get in a car, but if they
have 5 minutes, believe me, the got the car...
(note the word reasonable above. by this i mean something that is
not such a pain in the posterior that the honest people buying it
are not severely put upon just to operate the s/w. if anything, it's
those people who developers should be catering to and not the thieves.
you are far better off devising a way to change human nature than
wasting your time devising inoperable schemes. by now, anyone in the
s/w biz should accept that piracy is an inescapable fact of life.)
-bill
rosenkra@boston.cray.com
(reply by email, if at all since this site misses some news)vxp6840%ritcv@cs.rit.edu (07/06/89)
In article <1163@gec-mi-at.co.uk>: > >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. That sounds like a stupid idea!!!! I always backup the software I buy and then play off the backup. I put the original away in a safe place. If I ever play a game I can't win, I would never recommend it to anyone. Actually, I'd discourage others from buying it. Also, people who pirate games tell other people about it. This would discourage people as well. It sounds like this software company is shooting itself in the leg. -Vitas P.- -- -Vitas P.- ...![allegra, seismo, or rutgers]!rochester!rit!vxp6840 vcp6840@ritvax.bitnet or vxp6840@ritcv.UUCP vcp6840@ultb.isc.rit.edu.UUCP