shanks@cdi.UUCP (David Shanks) (03/20/84)
<-bug food Does anyone out there know of a good way to copy protect programs on floppy disks? The method must work on a variety of MS-DOS running machines including the NEC-APC (8 inch disks) and the DEC Rainbow (5 1/4 inch disks, single sided, quad density). It must also be usable in mass production and we would like to be able to allow the legitimate users to make backup copies. Any pointers to such a method will be greatly appreciated. p.s. Any method we use *MUST* be unbreakable :-) -- David Shanks ..!tektronix!ogcvax!metheus!cdi!shanks Teneron Corp. (formerly Computer Development, Inc.) 6700 SW 105th Suite 200 Beaverton, OR 97005 (503) 646-1599
mats@dual.UUCP (Mats Wichmann) (03/22/84)
Unfortunately, I have nothing to offer in the way of schemes. But I also am looking. I have heard about any number of copy protection schemes and I like none of them, in particular, guys who do nasty things like create an artificial bad sector, or half step the drives. One of our vendors (for a Word Processor that runs on the UNIX System) has devised some sort of clever installation scheme, which depends on the customer calling the vendor when he is doing the actual installation. An unreadable file is then unscrambled, with the aid of unique keys supplied by the vendor over the phone. They copy gets installed on the system with some sort of information which makes is unique to that machine - the same installation procedure cannot be run on another machine, nor can that copy be moved to another machine. This also makes backups impossible - a backup restores onto the system will NOT run. I don't think that any scheme can be completely foolproof, especially if it is compatible with mass production (if you make copies, why can't someone else?) but I would love to hear some ideas on this.... Mats Wichmann Dual Systems Corp. ...{ucbvax,amd70,ihnp4,cbosgd,decwrl,fortune}!dual!mats It now became apparent (despite the lack of library paste) that something had happened to the vicar; [ Edward Gorey ]
mar@Mit-Borax.ARPA (03/23/84)
From: Mark A. Rosenstein <mar@Mit-Borax.ARPA> Ain't no such thing as an unbreakable floppy protection scheme. -Mark