jjm (12/21/82)
Recent articles in net.micro, net.games, etc. have requested copies of games for various home computer systems. As a co-worker of mine has already pointed out, this is software piracy, a form of theft, and can not be condoned on this network. We wouldn't allow prostitues to advertise in net.singles, or drug dealers to advertise in net.rec, would we. However, I should point out that there are several things that software producers should keep in mind when marketing their products. There are effective ways to prevent the piracy of your software, which are much more effective than any "copy guard" procedures can be. 1.) Provide "off-the-disk" materials. This includes good user manuals, documentation, game boards, maps, file folders, etc. Basically, anything that is hard to xerox, and makes your software inconvenient (or impossible) to use when it is missing. 2.) Provide user support for registered users. If you provide additional training, help, instructions, newsletters, or a user group only for those who have legally purchased your software, the value of a pirated copy is reduced. 3.) Provide updates for a nominal cost. Once again, continuaing support of your real customers pays off. 4.) Don't overprice your product! This is probably the most important. People will not rip you off if you don't try to rip them off. Admit it, $40 for a 48K game program is ridiculous. Especially if it's a copy of an arcade game that someone else designed and marketed. Well, I hope there were some software houses out there reading all this. Experience has shown that any copy guard system, no matter how clever, can be broken. Jim McParland BTL - Holmdel hou5e!jjm