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From: rick@uwmacc.UUCP (the absurdist)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Re: Re: A dream about breaking copy protection !
Message-ID: <810@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Jan-87 17:00:10 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.810
Posted: Mon Jan  5 17:00:10 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Jan-87 23:13:10 EST
References: <161@tiger.Princeton.EDU> <1366@nicmad.UUCP> <107@mas1.UUCP> <103@ems.UUCP> <1162@whuts.UUCP>
Reply-To: rick@unix.macc.wisc.edu.UUCP (Rick Keir)
Distribution: world
Organization: UW-Madison Academic Computer Center
Lines: 37
Keywords: some misconceptions about copy protection

In article <1162@whuts.UUCP> tes@whuts.UUCP writes:
>This takes me back to PC ages "B.I." (before IBM), the standing
>"rite of passage" for entry into the inner sanctum of your local
>computer club was to successfully violate the protection scheme
>for Visicalc (TM).  Where is Visicalc now?  Wiped out by competi-
>tors with larger advertising budgets, and more willing to pro-
>tect their rights via draconian measures.  In a word, Visicalc
>was bled to death and never regained enough capital to push
>forward on their considerable technological lead.

Ahem.  I was there in the "Before IBM" days -- in fact, I
was there when the Processor Technology SOL was considered
to be a pretty neat thing (10 years ago).  It was not common to 
have a "rite of passage" like this;  many user groups included
as members people who sold software for a living.  Telling the
local Apple or Radio Shack dealer that someone in your group
could cut into his sales rarely struck people as a good idea,
especially if they were trying to get a price break from the dealer.

Visicalc was wiped out because it became an inferior product
that its manufacturer and marketer didn't support properly
(there were two distinct companies, which sued each other into
extinction while Lotus, SuperCalc and Multiplan took over the 
market).  The "more draconian" scheme for Lotus 123 was crackable
by anyone who cared enough to look on a computer bulletin board
(in one public domain collection I found 4 separate entries
all of which were related to breaking this program).   Borland
has survived quite well without copy protection;  Microsoft
has dropped it from all of their products;  even Lotus is beginning
to reconsider their position.


-- 
"I'll do it -- I've got the GUTS.  I'm the PRESIDENT."
"Maybe we should take that box away from him."  "Why bother?"
Rick Keir -- one floor up from the Oyster Tank -- UWisc - Madison
{allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!rick