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From: hadeishi@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (mitsuharu hadeishi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Copy protection: boycott it!
Message-ID: <2470@husc6.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jul-87 13:53:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: husc6.2470
Posted: Mon Jul  6 13:53:37 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jul-87 06:03:33 EDT
References: <4826@sgi.SGI.COM> <4238@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <640@nis.NIS.MN.ORG> <4259@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Sender: news@husc6.UUCP
Reply-To: hadeishi@husc4.UUCP (mitsuharu hadeishi)
Organization: Harvard Univ. Science Center
Lines: 66
Keywords: piracy, copy protection, bungled burglary
Summary: Disagree

In article <4259@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes:
>Very small? Gee, that's odd. As long as I avoid companies that sell
>games as the bulk of their products, I don't have problems with things
>being copy protected. But I tend to stay with programmers & CLI tools,
>and not business applications and games.

	That's fine for you (and me) Mike, but if you are interested
in getting software out to the masses, which I am, then I'm afraid
we're all going to have to live with copy protection.  In order for
large-scale projects such as the ones envisioned by the consumer
software companies to get off the ground, some type of copy deterrent
is going to be required, or the consumer software industry could not
survive.  And I feel it is necessary for these kinds of products
to get out there, and for the companies that market them to
stay in business.  Of course exorbitant prices for software tools is
abhorrent, but I find that much more abhorrent than copy protection
per se.  I often use copy protected software (games) and I am
satisfied with them.  Companies such as Borland and Electronic Arts
make their tools available on a two-tier basis; the first level
is a copy-protected version, and the second level is an unprotected
version for a nominal fee.  I think this is an effective system to
both reduce illicit copying and allow users with hard disk subsystems
or whatever to be able to use their products without hassle.

>No, there's one other condition that will cause companies to stop copy
>protecting their software. That's if nobody buys it. They'll either
>stop, or go out of business.

	What will happen is if games are distributed without copy
protection to the mass market (I exclude the Amiga from "mass market
since it tends to be a hacker's machine, and there is a kind of
hacker ethic which precludes illicit copying) is that the game
manufacturers will be unable to stay in business because of loss
of hard-earned remuneration for their work due to illicit copying.

>Rather than saying "the world is lousy, so why work on making it
>better," why not do the politically correct thing, and not buy copy
>protected software. Besides being politically correct, it saves you
>headaches (if it didn't, I'd have no beef with copy protected
>software).

	You may get headaches from copy-protected software, but
developers can lose their jobs without it.  I agree that unprotected
versions of tools should always be available; I wouldn't penalize
a company that had such a policy just because of the "headache" of
having to pay $20 more for an unprotected version.  That is the
utmost in selfishness (yes, to save me a little hassle I'd rather
let the software companies go out of business.)

	The point is that we need to take care of each other, and
consider other points of view than our own.  Some products, such
as programmer's editors, should not be copy protected.  Others,
such as games, should be.  Those on the edge, like mass-market
productivity tools, should give the buyer an option.  There is
nothing morally wrong with copy protection when it is necessary for
the ongoing viability of a company; the user's point of view
needs to be considered as well, but there shouldn't be a feeling
of "US" and "THEM".  Companies are vulnerable to the vagaries of
the mass market, and they deserve to be protected.  They also need
to listen to users (thus the two-tier copy protection scheme mentioned
earlier.)  I think we can all agree that we want a viable,
growing, vibrant software industry that produces products that are
useful and responsive to user needs.  I think there is a role for
copy protection in maintaining and improving on this vision.

				-his ph