cl29+@andrew.cmu.edu (Cameron Christopher Long) (11/20/90)
Hello, I realize that this is a bad topic of discussion, but I would like any input that people have on this subject. My company's first product was sold without any form of protection, and although our market is limited to only a couple of thousand buyers, we only sold 25 copies. Why? Because everyone copied the original 25, and thus had no need to buy more. We are considering some form of copy protection for our next product, and I am interested in any ideas/suggestions for or against protection... Thanks for you time... Cameron Long cl29@andrew.cmu.edu
steve@huxley.huxley.bitstream.com (Steve Stein) (11/21/90)
In article <IbGIOve00VpPMf0VlK@andrew.cmu.edu> cl29+@andrew.cmu.edu (Cameron Christopher Long) writes: > My company's first product was sold without any form of protection, and > although our market is limited to only a couple of thousand buyers, we only > sold 25 copies. Why? Because everyone copied the original 25, and thus had > no need to buy more. > > We are considering some form of copy protection for our next product, and Cameron - If your market is as small and accessible as you say, and if illegal copying is indeed taking place, it might be relatively easy to actually catch a thief or two and take them to court - both criminal (for theft) and civil (to recover damages). My guess is that you can find some allies in this - Lotus and MicroSoft to name a couple. I think a high-profile prosecution of the software thieves may demonstrate to the rest of your user community your willingness to take such measures. Having a "personalization" feature in your software (like MicroSoft Word has) or serializing the copies of the software you ship may aid in the effort to find copyright violators. (The personalization feature also tends to twang the conscience of violators if the user's name is displayed at startup.) If you REALLY REALLY want to do copy protection, which I DO NOT FAVOR OR RECOMMEND, I believe it must be done by a hardware means of some sort to be effective (ProLOK or some such if they're still in business). Strictly software means of copy protection can be broken relatively easily. I would advise against copy protection: it insults your honest users, it is an inconvenience for them if it cannot be moved to a hard disk, and it is difficult for your users to make an archive copy of software which they have purchased, which is their right. Poorly done or malicious copy protection schemes can do worse than this, and possibly expose you to legal risks. Any copy protection will expose you to bad publicity. I speak as one who has implemented copy protection, and circumvented copy protection in order to recover from a crashed floppy disk. STAMP OUT COPY PROTECTION. PROSECUTE SOFTWARE THIEVES! Off my soapbox now. - Steve Stein
n67786@assari.tut.fi (Nieminen Tero) (11/21/90)
>> We are considering some form of copy protection for our next product, and >> I am interested in any ideas/suggestions for or against protection... >Try making being a registered user a Good Deal, not just a means to >help the author(s) become the next Mitch Kapor or Bill Gates. Free >update or two; especially nifty manual(s); useful newsletters >(not glorified ads like Microsoft); on-line services of some sort? And what would prevent the pirates from duplicating the uppdates also. They must have in a position to make the copy in the first place so it's hard to imagine they would't be able to pirate the updates too. Just want to stirr up the water. >> Cameron Long >> cl29@andrew.cmu.edu >Christopher Gunn Molecular Graphics & Modeling Lab >SPAN--KUPHSX::GUNN Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Malott Hall >913-864-4428 or -4495 University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 -- Tero Nieminen Tampere University of Technology n67786@lehtori.tut.fi Tampere, Finland, Europe -- Tero Nieminen Tampere University of Technology n67786@lehtori.tut.fi Tampere, Finland, Europe
1k1mgm@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Christopher Gunn) (11/21/90)
In article<IbGIOve00VpPMf0VlK@andrew.cmu.edu>,cl29+@andrew.cmu.edu(Cameron Christopher Long) writes: > My company's first product was sold without any form of protection, and > although our market is limited to only a couple of thousand buyers, we only > sold 25 copies. Why? Because everyone copied the original 25, and thus had > no need to buy more. Cheer up. If it had been copy protected, you might have sold 3. > We are considering some form of copy protection for our next product, and > I am interested in any ideas/suggestions for or against protection... Try making being a registered user a Good Deal, not just a means to help the author(s) become the next Mitch Kapor or Bill Gates. Free update or two; especially nifty manual(s); useful newsletters (not glorified ads like Microsoft); on-line services of some sort? > Cameron Long > cl29@andrew.cmu.edu Christopher Gunn Molecular Graphics & Modeling Lab SPAN--KUPHSX::GUNN Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Malott Hall 913-864-4428 or -4495 University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045
wilkins@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Mark Wilkins) (11/22/90)
In article <N67786.90Nov21035455@assari.tut.fi> n67786@assari.tut.fi (Nieminen Tero) writes: >And what would prevent the pirates from duplicating the uppdates also. >They must have in a position to make the copy in the first place so it's >hard to imagine they would't be able to pirate the updates too. > >Just want to stirr up the water. Nothing. However, when people get a copy of a copy of a copy of program X, it's a lot harder for the pirate at the end of the chain to get an update than it is for a registered user. Remember, to pirate efficiently a person has to be pretty well-connected, and what you're fighting against isn't that kind of person but the one who casually gets a copy and runs the same outdated version for five years. If you can get them to see the good in free updates by mail, they might very well buy. It's just a matter of providing more value than just the software. Those techniques don't just fight piracy, either; For example, I love FullWrite Professional but after years of owning it I get the impression that Ashton-Tate doesn't care about the Mac market. So I purchased MacWrite II, largely because of Claris' support, even though it isn't as capable for what I want to do. At least it will continue to work, whereas FWP is showing its age with no upgrades in sight. -- Mark Wilkins -- ******* "Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude!" ********** *-----------------------------------------------------------------------------* * Mark R. Wilkins wilkins@jarthur.claremont.edu {uunet}!jarthur!wilkins * ****** MARK.WILKINS on AppleLink ****** MWilkins on America Online ******
francis@arthur.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) (11/22/90)
In article <IbGIOve00VpPMf0VlK@andrew.cmu.edu> cl29+@andrew.cmu.edu (Cameron Christopher Long) writes: >My company's first product was sold without any form of protection, and >although our market is limited to only a couple of thousand buyers, we only >sold 25 copies. Why? Because everyone copied the original 25, and thus had >no need to buy more. How do you know what your market was; how do you know anybody besides your actual customers are using it? (No offense, but how can you tell what your market is accurately? For information--what program, what company?) >We are considering some form of copy protection for our next product, and >I am interested in any ideas/suggestions for or against protection... Copy protection worked, to some degree, in the days when hard drives were rare and major applications fit on floppies. (Note: "major" <> "good"). It has been a horrible idea lately. The only effective way to copy- protect your software on a hard drive is to reformat part of that drive. A few companies tried that some years ago; it gained a reputation for being unreliable & dangerous. (Near as I can tell, copy protection usually depends on adjusting the speed of the drive, or something; if you've got a hard drive, & don't really know how the individual model works, you could screw up, & destroy large sections of your (ex-)customer's hard disk.) Since hard drives are in such large use these days, and extremely convenient, people will be unlikely, IMHO, to use a program that they can't take off of the floppy it came on. It's the kiss of death--don't try it. | Francis Stracke | My opinions are my own. I don't steal them.| | Department of Mathematics |=============================================| | University of Chicago | Non sequiturs make me eat lampshades | | francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu | |
tjc@castle.ed.ac.uk (A J Cunningham) (11/22/90)
In article <STEVE.90Nov20150157@huxley.huxley.bitstream.com> <steve@bitstream.com> (Stephen Z. Stein) writes: >My guess is that you can find some >allies in this - Lotus and MicroSoft to name a couple. Just remember the old saying "When you sup with the devil you need a long spoon". No :-) Tony -- Tony Cunningham, Edinburgh University Computing Service. tjc@castle.ed.ac.uk If a man among you got no sin upon his hand Let him cast a stone at me for playing in the band.