cccstevn@underdog.ucdavis.edu (Steve Ansell) (05/04/91)
In article <1991May3.161211.2382@dsd.es.com> galt@baby.dsd.es.com (Greg Alt - Perp) writes: > >How about have a counter of some sort that keeps track of how many times the >program has been run... Then, have it be crippleware 3/4 of the time? Or >have an annoying pause and reminder the first time and then every 10th time... >Of course you could always get around this by making a copy, running it, doing >a diff on the files and modify the counter with debug... Maybe use something >that looks at the current date? Or it could be completely random... How >about if you use the counter idea, but have it work perfectly for a certain >amount of time, then it magically becomes crippleware. >Another idea I have been kicking around is to release a fully functional >version, but give people something extra if they register. >Anyway, I'd like to hear any comments or other ideas... > Greg While your at it why not just make a fully functional program that is only useful for a limited amount of time? Many shareware programs already say that there is a time limit before which you "should" register, so why not just make this the limit during which the program is usable. Granted this will not stop the tricky debug hacker from patching the program to get rid of the time limit, but there are very few schemes that will stop a knowledgable "debug"er. As was said before, this discussion does not belong in c.b.i.p.d so I have redirected follow-ups to comp.misc. Please move further discussion to that, or another apropriate group. -- -Steven T. Ansell Unix Consultant Computing Services U.C.D.