Re: Net piracy?

[jeffr@bmerha2a.bnr.ca (Jeffrey Robertson)]

In article <306k2h$fvk@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu>,
James L Brookes <jamesb@ecst.csuchico.edu> wrote:
>In article <306ev5$jko@bmerha64.bnr.ca>, Jeffrey Robertson
><jeffr@bmerha2a.bnr.ca> wrote:
>
>[...]
>>Well, depending on how you look at it, piracy and/or software protection
>>killed the Apple II (among others).  The kind of pirating I'm talking
>
>Now that's just plain silly.  The only way you might think that is if your
>glasses were painted over.  What "killed" (uh, hello, it's not dead yet)
>the Apple II was Apple deciding that they didn't want the II as a part of
>their future.  It's incredibly simple, really.

Look, I'm an Apple II(gs) fan.  I like my machine.  It's all I need for a home
computer.  Maybe "killed" was a poor choice of words.  But there's no point
claiming it's at the cutting edge of the market.  (Hint:  It's been discontinued.)
The supply of new software is pretty scarce.  There is no simple reason
why.  Developers don't write, since the market is small.  The market is small
because people have quit using the machine.  Some of those quit because there
was not enough development going on.  Nice vicious circle.

(Of course, there's other reasons too.  Developers quit to work on new "cool"
machines.  Users quit because they always have to have the latest "cool" toy.
So they wind up programming/owning Mac's.  Some developers quit because everyone
uses their software, but doesn't pay shareware fees, or pirates commerical
versions.  And users quit because there's no good software, or they hate
software they can't install on their hard drives.  Man, the list goes on and on.
The longer I live, the more I realize _nothing_ is "incredibly simple".)

>>about won't hurt people though.  At any event, a return to copy protection
>>would be a Bad Thing (tm).
>
>From an end user standpoint, I'd agree.  But from a developer's standpoint
>I cannot agree.  There is an issue of just compensation which *must* be
>addresssed.
>
>I think I'm going to try the embedded, encrypted serial number tack.  Pull
>your pirated, distributed copy down off the net, and find out just who was
>the loser who decided you would not protest if they uploaded it for all
>the world to copy and distribute.

An argument can be made (and hey! I'll make it!) that it's even bad for
developers, too.  If users don't like copy protected software, because it
interferes with their legitimate use of it, (hard drive installs, use on
a network, backup copies, customization, etc.) then they won't buy it
... especially if someone offers another product that isn't protected.
So the developer loses money.

Your idea sounds great.  Invisible to the honest user; lets you nail the pirate.
The only problem is that you actually have to find the pirated copy.  If
my friend comes over to my house, and copys all my cool games off my hard
drive, you'll never catch us.


Here's another thought to muddy the waters of this discussion:  Some people
have suggested that pirating would vanish if the price of software would
drop.  No one wants to pay $100 for a shrinkwrapped game or word processor
or whatever, and then find that they don't like it.  So they pirate it,
ostensibly to test it, and then never get around to buying a licenced copy.
Make it cheap, and people will gladly pay to soothe their guilty consciouns.
(How _do_ you spell that?  I've tried everything I can think of!)

Cheers,
-- 
-------------------------------------+----------------+-----------------
Jeffrey Robertson                    |  jeffr@bnr.ca  |      BNR, Ottawa
"I speak for myself, not BNR" - Me   +----------------+       (Meriline)
"Verbing weirds language" - Calvin                      OC-48 FiberWorld