Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!nysernic!itsgw!batcomputer!kagle From: kagle@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Jonathan C. Kagle) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Copy protection: A marketing analysis Message-ID: <1756@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 21-Jul-87 11:05:51 EDT Article-I.D.: batcompu.1756 Posted: Tue Jul 21 11:05:51 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jul-87 01:49:50 EDT References: <207@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> <892@omepd> <1393@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <575@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM> Reply-To: kagle@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Jonathan C. Kagle) Distribution: na Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY Lines: 62 Keywords: ID code, replacement, Lisa Summary: Another problem... In article <575@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM> dleigh@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM (Darren Leigh) writes: !In article <1393@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>, ralph@mit-atrp.UUCP (Amiga-Man) writes: !> In article <892@omepd> hah@mipon3.UUCP (Hans Hansen) writes: !> >lies with Commodore. The Amiga should have had an ID ROM in each machine !> >that is unique from all others. All programmers that felt the need to protect !> >their programs would then burry the cusotmers ID within the program the first !> >time it was loaded. ! !> [ . . . ] This method was used in the Lisa (later Lisa 2 and Mac XL :-). I think that high production costs and the below problems caused Apple to discard this concept on their Macintosh. Any comments Apple? !Having some sort of unmodifiable code number internal to the computer !itself is probably the best solution I've heard yet. It would allow !for very good copy protection and, with some cute hacking, could be !made virtually uncrackable (code number checks at random times, subtly !altering the program so that it uses the code number as data and runs !wrong if the data is wrong; i.e. it should be more than a go/no-go !check). The only real problems I can see with this are: ! !1. Some user set-up time the first time the program is run. ! (Really not a problem) ! !2. Being unable to run your bought software on a friend's [or colleague's] ! machine. ! ! 3. Being unable to run software on a loaner machine, if your machine breaks down. 4. Being unable to run software on a replacement machine, if your machine dies. 5. Being unable to run software on an "upgrade" machine (e.g. a business decides NOT to upgrade to an A2000 because he'd have to get new soft- ware or wait for a replacement copy). 6. Dealers wouldn't be able to "demo" software if it installs itself upon booting. 7. If disks are accidentally switched (not unlikely when there are several Amigas in the same office :-), and the software, say a word processor "works wrong" and won't save your document, well... Though no Copy Protection (I prefer to call it Copy Delaying) scheme is "perfect" in stopping piracy, nearly all cause inconvenience to end users. In the end, CUSTOMERS will get an inferior program compared to the unprotect- ed version distributed by pirates. Pirates laugh, "You have to look up a word in the manual, and you paid all that money for that program!" -Jonathan ___________________________________________________________________________ -- Jonathan C. Kagle Cornell Theory Center kagle@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu/kagle@crnlthry/!decvax!cornell!batcomputer!kagle "Union Carbide is proud to be the official supplier of tear gas for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games"