alfter@uns-helios.nevada.edu (SCOTT ALFTER) (11/11/90)
Enough people have been asking me for info on _Computist_, a software
cracking magazine I mentioned in a post a while back, so I'll
summarize and cross-post here to answer any and (hopefully) all
questions anyone may have about this publication.
_Computist_ (which used to be known as _Hardcore_Computing_) is a
publication primarily devoted to gathering and distributing
information on removing copy protection from Apple II software. (They
occasionally run info on deprotecting Mac and MeSsy-DOS stuff, but
protection schemes on those machines are nowhere near as numerous--or
as annoying and difficult to crack--as some of the protection schemes
used on the Apple II.) I'm not sure if they're still in business or
not; their non-existence, if such is the case, could be due to either
(1) almost no new Apple II software these days :-( or (2) Apple's
statement a while back that they will refuse to support any copy
protection scheme with regard to future systems and system software.
If you're interested in _Computist_, here's their address:
Computist
P.O. Box 110846
Tacoma, WA 98411
Due to the machine-specific nature of this post, followups (if there
are any) should go to comp.sys.apple2.
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Scott Alfter _/_
/ v \ Apple II:
Internet: alfter@uns-helios.nevada.edu ( ( the power to be your best!
GEnie: S.ALFTER \_^_/gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) (11/11/90)
In article <2272@unsvax.NEVADA.EDU> alfter@uns-helios.nevada.edu (SCOTT ALFTER) writes: >I'm not sure if they're still in business or not; ... Yes, Computist is still in business, but they recently moved to a new address (which I don't happen to have at hand). Probably letters to the old address will be forwarded for a while. A lot of current commercial Apple II software is still copy protected, although an increasing amount of it is either totally unprotected or else relies on user verification via external means, such as code wheels. Computist does contain articles on removing even this relatively benign form of copy protection, since it is still a hassle to have to go find the code wheel, or worse yet to try to read numbers from that awful red-brown (supposedly Xerox resistant) paper.