hoffmann@acl.kodak.com (marty hoffmann) (05/07/91)
Thomas Tavoly wrote: Sigh.. Utter Spectum Tauri (tm)! You still don't get the point do you? Who do you think those 'people fed up with entering words' are? They don't have the manual, that is why they are 'fed up'! Those who actually bought the game did so because they valued it worthwhile, in contrast to those, who just copied it because they could get it for free. If you play it, buy it! Comments like this really bug the hell out of me for two reasons: - It is ALWAYS wrong to stereotype a group of people. ALWAYS. - I am one of those people "fed up with entering words". I bought Chessmaster 2100. I buy all of the software I use! You should not be so quick to accuse EVERYONE who might not like entering passwords of being a criminal (how rude). I don't object to most password copy protection schemes (truthfully, they are the most buyer friendly copy protection scheme I know of). But I prefer schemes that ask for a word from a particular page and paragraph, rather than a scheme that forces me to hunt through the manual for the answer. Here are three programs (all of which I have purchased) that are annoying in this respect: Cribbage/Gin King Chessmaster 2100 Pirates Actually, Cribbage/Gin King isn't so bad (they ask you to look something up in one of 10 or so tables in the back of the manual), except that every once in a while it asks me a question like "What is the best discard into your own crib", and I can't figure out the format for the answer (e.g., suppose the answer is a five and a 10 of the same suit -- do I type "5 10 Same", "5 10", "5 and 10 Same Suit"??? I always seem to get it wrong). As it turns out, I patched CM2100 myself, so I will not have to enter the passwords. But I'm not going to give out copies of the program or even explain how I patched it (it's not that hard anyway). I guess that I'm doing my part to prevent piracy, right? I guess that pirates are too stupid build their own patch, right? I guess that pirates are too stupid to use a photo-copier, right? (Don't tell me that it costs too much to copy the manual pages -- there aren't that many pages in the CM2100 manual that would have to be copied). I guess that people who buy the software don't have a right to object to the inconvenience of a particular protection scheme, right? I guess that I'm getting a bit carried away, right? (I feel better now) Marty -- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* | Martin R Hoffmann | Opinions expressed above are | | (hoffmann@acl.kodak.com) | not Kodak's (blah blah blah) | *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*