Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!ll-xn!ames!aurora!barry From: barry@aurora.UUCP (Kenn Barry) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Copy protection: boycott it! Message-ID: <761@aurora.UUCP> Date: Tue, 7-Jul-87 01:37:34 EDT Article-I.D.: aurora.761 Posted: Tue Jul 7 01:37:34 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Jul-87 06:14:24 EDT References: <4826@sgi.SGI.COM> <4238@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <640@nis.NIS.MN.ORG> <2470@husc6.UUCP> Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Mt. View, Ca. Lines: 49 Keywords: piracy, copy protection, bungled burglary Summary: copy protection is useless. In article <2470@husc6.UUCP>, hadeishi@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (mitsuharu hadeishi) writes: >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. I see two problems with this reasoning. First, many commercial products which were *not* copy-protected have enjoyed immense success. The first example that comes to mind is Wordstar, which first achieved its original enormous popularity as a CP/M program. Like virtually all CP/M software, it was not copy-protected. Even in its IBM incarnation, I don't believe it has been protected. If memory serves, Micropro experimented briefly with protecting it, then gave it up as a bad idea. The other, greater problem with copy-protection, is that it fails to accomplish its purpose. I started out my computer hobby on Apple ][s, where both copy protection and piracy were rampant. I used to get offered copies of games before they had even been marketed! Kids stripped the copy-protects of games as a hobby. Of the hundreds of copy-protected games I encountered, there was only one where I never saw a deprotected, pirate version in common circulation, and that one was still copied routinely, with bit-copy programs. > 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. The record says otherwise. Until the Apple ][ succumbed to obselescence and competition from IBM, the major vendors of Apple ][ game software were making very big bucks, despite the widespread availability of pirated versions. My impression is that most pirated software was in the hands of folks who would not have bought the programs anyway. In any case, the copy protection did not inconvenience pirates one whit. Only the legitimate users were hurt. I will tolerate copy-protection on game software, but it's still an utter waste of time for the vendors. The only effective counter to piracy I know of, is to make the extras that accompany the program as valuable as the executable - good, useful manuals, and vendor support. And if a game's so simple that manuals and support are unnecessary, the price should be too low to make piracy attractive anyway. - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTRIC AVENUE: {hplabs,seismo,dual,ihnp4}!ames!aurora!barry