Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site unicus.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!yetti!unicus!sat From: sat@unicus.UUCP (S.A. Thurlow) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Copy protection: A marketing analysis Message-ID: <808@unicus.UUCP> Date: Sat, 18-Jul-87 13:41:32 EDT Article-I.D.: unicus.808 Posted: Sat Jul 18 13:41:32 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 21-Jul-87 00:52:33 EDT References: <8707171737.AA01789@THYME.LCS.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: sat@unicus.UUCP (S.A. Thurlow) Organization: Unicus Software Inc., Toronto, Ont. Lines: 44 I think that we are having this debate at all shows that the computer software industry has gotten its priorities all confused. Firstly, we should remember that software companies exist to help users, not the other way around. Customers will not buy a product unless it helps to solve a problem. By selling a package to a customer, a company is helping him to solve problems more efficiently than he could otherwise. By copy protecting software, a company is making the assumption that the customer is an evil thing they harness for their benefit. This is bad. How many people go back for more abuse if they can avoid it? Secondly, for any serious software, the "customers" will tend to be corporations. Corporations tend to like things like "site licenses" and "support". They like to manage their internal software distribution and will tend to be responsible about controlling the illegal copying problem. Corporations would much rather pay real money for a product and *know* that you will be there to help when there is a problem rather than become dependent on something that is unsupported (like an illegal copy of a program). After all, what good is a productivity enhancer if you can't use it? Corporations also make nice big legal targets, so it is not in their best interests to expose themselve by making illegal copies of anything, software included. Of course there will be the occasional user who makes an illegal copy of a program he uses at the office to use at home. But he generally makes up a small number compared to the size of a corporate customer and would probably not buy the software anyway. There is no excuse for copy protecting serious software. In short, a company sells software to help others, and copy protection generally strips reliability (what do I do if the disk dies, I lose the gizmo, or the manual) from software and makes it a less attractive problem solver. I may just be naive, but I don't think so. If a company tries to help customers rather than inconvenience them, customers will remember and back (that is why IBM is such a big name), especially if a solution works. In case you're wondering, I am *NOT* a pirate. Scott. Disclaimer: This is my opinion only. My company may, or may not, share it. -- Scott A. Thurlow Unicus Corporation InterNet: sat@Unicus.COM (on a good day) UUCP: {seismo!mentor,utzoo!utcsri}!unicus!sat (on a bad day) ARPA: mnetor!unicus!sat@seismo.CSS.GOV (on a REALLY bad day)