mlee@marduk.cs.cornell.edu (mark lee) (10/04/89)
There are a few students at Cornell thinking of starting
a small software development company for the NeXT market,
and distributing the software in the following way:
1. put the software in the NeXT public domain software account.
2. allow all users to copy and test out the demo part.
3. if the user likes the program, he or she calls us
to get the unique password that depends on a certain
formula and the ethernet address.
*Note: By doing this, we reduce the manufacturing, distribution
and retail cost of software to $0.00, and only pay
for development costs.
Could anyone please comment (or mail me a reply) on whether
we would be infringing on someone's patent by doing this?
Is it even possible for someone to have a patent on the
software security method that uses the ethernet address?
Thank you all very much.
Mark Lee,
mlee@awamore.cs.cornell.eduartk@congrunt.uunet.uu.net (Art Kreitman @ Congruent) (10/07/89)
In reply to > Reply-To: mlee@cs.cornell.edu (mark lee) > > > There are a few students at Cornell thinking of starting > a small software development company for the NeXT market, ^^^^^^^^^^^ The NeXT market is currently very small. New business ventures need either lots of capital or immediate sales. If you don't have good backing, you'll most likley be eating alpo. > *Note: By doing this, we reduce the manufacturing, distribution > and retail cost of software to $0.00, and only pay > for development costs. The building/distribution is the smallest element. Marketing is the the most expensive item, followed by support, and then development. Get some friends in business school to help with a business plan before you make any real commitment. Art Kreitman