Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!labrea!glacier!jbn From: jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Copy protection: A marketing analysis Message-ID: <17135@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> Date: Tue, 21-Jul-87 01:23:11 EDT Article-I.D.: glacier.17135 Posted: Tue Jul 21 01:23:11 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jul-87 04:37:32 EDT References: <207@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> <892@omepd> <1393@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle) Distribution: na Organization: Stanford University Lines: 18 Summary: Multi-program dongle standards rejected There was considerable interest in an industry standard copy protection device for IBM software during 1986, with the Software Publisher's Association plugging for such a scheme. This was to be a card with an external box which would accept electronic keys of some sort. But during 1986, most of the major IBM software vendors dropped copy protection, and the push behind this scheme ran out of steam; it's now totally dead. A serial number in the machine is only useful for expensive products, since the manufacturer must stamp the software with your machine's serial number before shipping it to you. This prevents distribution through retail channels. However, many products for SUNs are protected in this way. One very promising solution is software on compact disks. Just make it so big that no one can afford enough hard disk to store a copy; including uncompressed color images of the manual keyed to the help system should do it.