mxmora@unix.SRI.COM (Matt Mora) (06/22/91)
I have a program that is ready for release that will scan hard disks for commercial software. (one to include shareware is already in the works) This program is going to be used by companies to make sure that they have legally purchased all software that their employees are using (or they are making them use). The program is called "SPAudit for the Macintosh" and it will be free from the Software Publishers Association (SPA). I have received from Apple Computer the signature registry database containing all the signatures that have be registered with Apple as of last year. Out of the over 3000 signatures in the database we have chopped it down to to about 950 products. This is probably too many but we had to start somewhere. I would like to know for sure that we have your products in the our database. If you want to make sure that SPAudit will find your software, please let me know the following information. Your company name as you want it to appear in the reports. ie Apple Computer, Inc. The signature and software products name as released by you for each of your software products. ie "SURF" SurfWriter(tm) The program currently will scan for Applications,Inits,Cdevs,Postscript fonts and hypercard stacks. If you would like to try the program first to see if it will find your software or you want to make sure the data is accurate, let me know and I will send you a beta copy of the program. Thanks for listening. Matthew Xavier Mora Developer of SPAudit For The Macintosh P.S. Please no flames about how you hate this program already. If people (or companies) didn't steal software there wouldn't be a need for this program. -- ___________________________________________________________ Matthew Mora | my Mac Matt_Mora@sri.com SRI International | my unix mxmora@unix.sri.com ___________________________________________________________
johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston) (06/23/91)
In article <25662@unix.SRI.COM> mxmora@sri-unix.sri.com (Matt Mora) writes: >P.S. Please no flames about how you hate this program already. If >people (or companies) didn't steal software there wouldn't be a need for >this program. Sorry, Matt. This is a flame; and no, I haven't seen SPAudit yet, so it's going to be a flame of the worst sort: biased and uninformed. (This is not personal; it's getting harder and harder to come up with a unique software concept. I do think it's a pity that the muse cursed you with this one.) Some background: "SPA" stands for the "SoftWare Publishers Association". I think it's fair to characterize them as an organization that promotes an "activist" approach to dealing with the problem of software piracy. To be a bit less fair, I would also characterize them as an industry "hit squad" who look after the interests of the big software houses. I don't know who pays their electric bill, but I haven't heard of any small-time developer who has kicked in $$ for SPA. From the description offered by Mr. Mora, SPAudit seems to be software tool designed to facilitate corporate software-witch-hunts. In other words, a convenience for the person whose happy task is to skulk through the office after hours and document the contents of everyone's hard disk for comparison against the corporate 'master list'. Will this put another nickel in the pocket of ANYBODY in the software industry? The answer is no, it will not. But let's take a look at an imaginary scenario, so we can see what is likely to happen, and who is likely to be the beneficiary ( aside from Mr. Mora, of course ). Enter "smilin' Fred". (You know Fred, don't you? The computer support "expert" down in the MIS department who was so helpful when you had that problem getting MacTCP to work with the new network setup? Sure, he was the guy that answered your question by offering to check to make sure that you hadn't "messed up" your CONFIG.SYS file ...). Yeah, that's Fred. He doesn't like Macs, and he hates answering questions about them. (He doesn't get many ... because "Macs aren't for experts, anyway"). But over Fred's objections some misguided upper-management type approved the purchase of a few Macs, and things are getting out of hand. People like these machines, and they like to do things in their own way. Why, just last week he had to fix an AppleTalk problem over in Publications and he noticed that somebody's disk was full of files whose name ended in ".cpt". A few people were clustered around another Mac chuckling at a screen saver with fishes swimming back and forth. Nancy's machine has a folder called "Public" that is full of _unapproved_ software that Fred has never heard of ... and apparently everybody in the office has access to it, but Fred can't remember approving the purchase of a file server. His head is spinning ... is it a virus threat? ... are we going to be sued for having bootleg software? To add insult to injury, one of the _women_ in the office tried to tell him how to fix the network ... and she was right! What can Fred do to regain control of this horrible situation? Well, Mr. Mora, I think we just found you a customer. I could go on with the story about Fred (my apologies to Freds everywhere, by the way) but you already know what Fred is going to do when he finds that ad for "SPAudit" that ran in INFOworld and "controlFREAK Week". ... Well, why not finish the story? Fred buys SPAudit and a few weeks later everybody gets a memo from Fred's boss announcing that from now on the "approved" software list will be enforced; "flagrant offenders" like Nancy (who didn't even know what was in her Public folder) get a list of the illicit software that was found on her machine which BELONGS to XYZ, Inc.... along with a stern warning not to let it happen again. Notice what Fred didn't do: 1) He didn't offer to help the person with the hard disk full of ".cpt" files to get a purchase order approved so that XYZ Corp. could continue to use Bill Goodman's "Compact Pro" legitimately. 2) He didn't offer to buy a work-copy of WriteNow for the office heretic who doesn't like MS Word. (They won't even listen to his protest that he bought the software himself; it's NOT ON THE LIST!) 3) He didn't bother to find out that Nancy's "Public Folder" network was freeware and full of other perfectly legitimate and useful public domain software. So, who benefits from SPAudit ... besides Mr. Mora? Could it be the companies who front the money for SPA? The ones who are on "THE LIST"? I think you know the answer ... -- Bill (johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu) -- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949
mxmora@unix.SRI.COM (Matt Mora) (06/25/91)
In article <56971@nigel.ee.udel.edu> johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston) writes: > >To be a bit less fair, I would also characterize them as an industry >"hit squad" who look after the interests of the big software houses. >I don't know who pays their electric bill, but I haven't heard of any >small-time developer who has kicked in $$ for SPA. Small time developers might not pay to be in SPA but ther software is included in the database to be scanned. >From the description offered by Mr. Mora, SPAudit seems to be software >tool designed to facilitate corporate software-witch-hunts. In other >words, a convenience for the person whose happy task is to skulk through >the office after hours and document the contents of everyone's hard disk >for comparison against the corporate 'master list'. That is up to the company and not to SPA. The way SPA is told about a company using illegal software is mostly from disgruntled employees finking on there previous employers. A lot of the companies that are audited are computer dealers that load up a hard disk to make a sell. >Will this put another nickel in the pocket of ANYBODY in the software >industry? The answer is no, it will not. But let's take a look at >an imaginary scenario, so we can see what is likely to happen, and who >is likely to be the beneficiary ( aside from Mr. Mora, of course ). Well for I or SRI for that matter did not get paid a cent to make this program for SPA. It was a "Public Service" donated to SPA by SRI. I think if SPA audits a company and they are found to be in the wrong, The fee is the suggested retail price of the software product * the number found. Also the cost of the product again if they want to keep it. Lets say a company bought 10 copies of Disk Doubler but is using it on 100 machines. Spaudit finds the 100 copies and the company can only prove they bought 10. 90 unlicensed copies * $69.96 = $6295.50. That would be the penalty fee that the company would pay. If they wanted to keep the software then they would pay $6295.50 to Salient software. Llyod and Terry sure would benefit then. This is just a senario, the actual settlement would of course be worked out between SPA and the companies attornees. Keep in mind that the company would probably pay any amount than to have the case brought to court. That benefits the software developer I beleive. Most cases are settled out of court because the company will not want to be known as a "Software Pirate". I don't know where the fee goes, I guess in SPA's greedy little pockets. >Yeah, that's Fred. He doesn't like Macs, and he hates answering >questions about them. (He doesn't get many ... because "Macs aren't >for experts, anyway"). But over Fred's objections some misguided >upper-management type approved the purchase of a few Macs, and things >are getting out of hand. People like these machines, and they like to >do things in their own way. Why, just last week he had to fix an >AppleTalk problem over in Publications and he noticed that somebody's >disk was full of files whose name ended in ".cpt". A few people were The company should get rid of Fred but that's another subject. >Well, Mr. Mora, I think we just found you a customer. Again, SPAudit is free. >Fred buys SPAudit and a few weeks later everybody gets a memo >from Fred's boss announcing that from now on the "approved" >software list will be enforced; "flagrant offenders" like Nancy >(who didn't even know what was in her Public folder) get a list >of the illicit software that was found on her machine which BELONGS >to XYZ, Inc.... along with a stern warning not to let it happen again. SPA can't do anything about company policies. Companies can run there business any way they want. They shouldn't use illegally obtained software though. >Notice what Fred didn't do: >1) He didn't offer to help the person with the hard disk full of >".cpt" files to get a purchase order approved so that XYZ Corp. >could continue to use Bill Goodman's "Compact Pro" legitimately. Well for one, SPAudit doesn't scan for shareware. And your are going to love this, SPAudit will have the capablility to scan INSIDE archives.(a future version) (i.e Disk Doubler,Compactor and Stuffit) Spaudit does not look at files to see what made them and then determine that they must be using 'xyz' because that's the creator signature of the file. It looks for the type APPL and then see if its sig is in the database. Also, if Nancy uses Compactor then either she (or her company) should pay Bill or don't use his software. Its that simple. >2) He didn't offer to buy a work-copy of WriteNow for the office >heretic who doesn't like MS Word. (They won't even listen to his >protest that he bought the software himself; it's NOT ON THE LIST!) Our Auditors at SRI will take any of the three forms of proof-of-purchase. Orignal disk(s),Original Manual(s) or a purchase order/petty cash receipt. Any of the three qualify as proof. If the company policy is to use word then the office heretic should use word or find other employment. Again this has nothing to do with Spaudit. >3) He didn't bother to find out that Nancy's "Public Folder" >network was freeware and full of other perfectly legitimate and >useful public domain software. Spaudit ingores shareware and freeware so Fred would never know that the software is on Nancy's hard disk. >So, who benefits from SPAudit ... besides Mr. Mora? Could it be >the companies who front the money for SPA? The ones who are on >"THE LIST"? I think you know the answer ... Software developers will benefit. Even the little guy. Unfortunatly I will not benefit unless the Software developers are SO happy that SPAudit is finding their software, they will shower me with gratitude checks. :-) Matt -- ___________________________________________________________ Matthew Mora | my Mac Matt_Mora@sri.com SRI International | my unix mxmora@unix.sri.com ___________________________________________________________ -- ___________________________________________________________ Matthew Mora | my Mac Matt_Mora@sri.com SRI International | my unix mxmora@unix.sri.com ___________________________________________________________
time@ice.com (Tim Endres) (06/25/91)
How you can sit and write this article with a straight face is beyond my comprehension!!!!!! In article <25733@unix.SRI.COM>, mxmora@unix.SRI.COM (Matt Mora) writes: > Well for I or SRI for that matter did not get paid a cent to make > this program for SPA. It was a "Public Service" donated to SPA by SRI. So, SRI is not paying your salary? How do you eat? > I think if SPA audits a company and they are found to be in the wrong, > The fee is the suggested retail price of the software product * the number > found. Also the cost of the product again if they want to keep it. > > Lets say a company bought 10 copies of Disk Doubler but is using it on 100 > machines. Spaudit finds the 100 copies and the company can only prove they > bought 10. 90 unlicensed copies * $69.96 = $6295.50. That would be the > penalty fee that the company would pay. If they wanted to keep the software > then they would pay $6295.50 to Salient software. Llyod and Terry sure > would benefit then. This is just a senario, the actual settlement would > of course be worked out between SPA and the companies attornees. Keep > in mind that the company would probably pay any amount than to have the > case brought to court. Doubtful. > That benefits the software developer I beleive. Most cases are settled out of > court because the company will not want to be known as a "Software Pirate". > > I don't know where the fee goes, I guess in SPA's greedy little pockets. HOW Does this benefit the developer?!?! You just said that SPA will collect $6295.00, and **IF** the company wants to keep the software, they can pay for it!! HOW ABSURD! The company will NOT pony up $6295 for the software after just paying SPA's $6295 fee!!! They will simply feel more justified in using the pirated software ("we just paid for it didn't we...")! > The way SPA is told about a company using illegal software is mostly from > disgruntled employees finking on there previous employers. > > A lot of the companies that are audited are computer dealers that load up > a hard disk to make a sell. So WHO THE HELL Lets SPA in their doors for an audit!?!?? Does SPA go out and get a *warrant*? They wouldn't get inside my doors... Finally, no company in its right mind will "settle" with SPA. The court hearing will be *far* too easily won, the burden of proof being on SPA, and it sounds like any settlement will be expensive. In fact, what will probably happen more and more frequently, is that the company will claim the employee responsible, fire them, then ignore the SPA audit claiming the employee was responsible. The press won't be so bad for the company since they will point at the "witch" employee and claim that the witch has been rooted out by the corporate white knights! Ah, the joys of modern computing.... ------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Endres | time@ice.com ICE Engineering | uupsi!ice.com!time 8840 Main Street | Voice FAX Whitmore Lake MI. 48189 | (313) 449 8288 (313) 449 9208 -------- USENET: A slow moving self parody.....
murat@farcomp.UUCP (Murat Konar) (06/25/91)
Matt writes:
== 2) He didn't offer to buy a work-copy of WriteNow for the office
== heretic who doesn't like MS Word. (They won't even listen to his
== protest that he bought the software himself; it's NOT ON THE LIST!)
=
= Our Auditors at SRI will take any of the three forms of proof-of-purchase.
= Orignal disk(s=,Original Manual(s) or a purchase order/petty cash receipt.
= Any of the three qualify as proof.
=
= If the company policy is to use word then the office heretic should
= use word or find other employment. Again this has nothing to do with Spaudit.
Yow! This is rather a draconian view, don't you think? This kind of view
WILL snuff out little guys.
--
____________________________________________________________________
Have a day. :^|
Murat N. Konar
murat@farcomp.UUCP -or- farcomp!murat@apple.comfrancis@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) (06/25/91)
In article <25733@unix.SRI.COM> mxmora@unix.SRI.COM (Matt Mora) writes: >In article <56971@nigel.ee.udel.edu> johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu (Bill Johnston) writes: >>From the description offered by Mr. Mora, SPAudit seems to be software >>tool designed to facilitate corporate software-witch-hunts. In other [...] >That is up to the company and not to SPA. Why do you believe you can wash your hands of how your creation is used? That's like a weapons merchant not caring that his sales kill people. >The way SPA is told about a company using illegal software is mostly from >disgruntled employees finking on there previous employers. Wait a minute. Who authorized the SPA to enforce the copyright laws? [...] >The fee is the suggested retail price of the software product * the number >found. Also the cost of the product again if they want to keep it. And who authorized them to collect fees? >Lets say a company bought 10 copies of Disk Doubler but is using it on 100 >machines. Spaudit finds the 100 copies and the company can only prove they >bought 10. 90 unlicensed copies * $69.96 = $6295.50. That would be the Why should the company have to prove that they're innocent? >>2) He didn't offer to buy a work-copy of WriteNow for the office >>heretic who doesn't like MS Word. (They won't even listen to his >>protest that he bought the software himself; it's NOT ON THE LIST!) >Our Auditors at SRI will take any of the three forms of proof-of-purchase. >Orignal disk(s),Original Manual(s) or a purchase order/petty cash receipt. >Any of the three qualify as proof. Again, why is it up to you to demand proof? >If the company policy is to use word then the office heretic should >use word or find other employment. Again this has nothing to do with Spaudit. Oh, come on! It's not like it makes a lot of difference to the company (provided, of course, that the heretic converts his files to Word when he gives or shares them). It's an irrational policy, like telling the employees they have to use pens rather than pencils when writing on paper (worse than that, because you can't convert pencil to pen), and you're making it easier for the company to hang on to it. -- /============================================================================\ | Francis Stracke | My opinions are my own. I don't steal them.| | Department of Mathematics |=============================================| | University of Chicago | What do you get if you multiply 6 by 9? | | francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu | --Ultimate Question | \============================================================================/