Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!SFAUSTIN.BITNET!Z4648252
From: Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Making Piracy work in your Favor
Message-ID: <890625.11081288.023669@SFA.CP6>
Date: 25 Jun 89 17:08:13 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 72


    Terrell made a two-pronged list of how to protect products of
piracy and how to make piracy advantageous.  His first prong was to
make sure that the product was one worth having because of its Customer
Support, Update Announcements, Monthly Newsletters, and decent
Documentation.  His second prong was to make the product workable
through piracy by having Customer Support request the user's name/address
or registration number, etc., and declining support if the user
cannot supply such or maybe even providing support.  He stated that
when new releases come out, the pirate will want the latest, thus wanting
to finally buy, in order that he will get the latest.  He concluded
with having Ordering Information in the documentation, never Copy
Protect, and finally Never Prosecute.  If copies are found on a BBS,
then the SysOp should be told to remove the posting and an advertisement
be posted instead for the product.
    First off, none of this will work.  Indeed, this type of logic makes
me see nothing but red.  Terrell is trying to solve a complex problem
which is not meant to be complex at all.  The very nature of the software
market makes stealing software easy and natural.  Taking something from
a shelf without paying is simple.  The methods of protecting that
product are complex.  Piracy is stealing.  It is pure theft.  Thief.
Crook.  Scum....
    WordPerfect ST has everything and more of the first prong that
Terrell mentioned.  It has an 800 customer support line.  The people
will even call you at your home to get you up and going, for crying out
loud!  They've got a monthly newsletter, their manual is over 600 pages.
The bookstores have volumes of books on how to use WordPerfect (though for
the IBM/Macs).
    Product support, and indeed PRICE, will not end piracy, stealing,
scum thieving of a product.  When the August 88 release of WordPerfect
entered the market last year, by two days after the first mailing, the
product was on the ST pirate boards.  Many of these boards are university
student BBSes, where students can purchase WordPerfect for $99.00.
    In further support of human nature scum stealing software no matter
the cost, I can recall Beagle Brothers products for the Apple // series.
A successful company even to this day, they offered utility packages
as cheap as $8.00.  Yet, the pirate boards were rampant at distributing
their products, in spite of the low costs.
    If I were a developer, I'd persecute pirates and distributors
to the full extent of the law and then some.  Prison sentences,
confiscation of equipment comes to mind.
    If I were a developer, I'd distribute a crippled WORKING
version of the product, with key routines REMOVED.  I can recall
during the early days when MichTron's TimeBandits came out, version
0.96.  It was never meant to be distributed but that was a working
version.  However, it did not have all the features of the final
product.  I can recall my reaction, "Man, where can I buy the real
thing?"  A crippled version, without tons of ads in it, would let
'Honest Joe' evaluate a product without buying something that he
doesn't want.
    WordPerfect sells to college students an IBM version of their
product in which a reference manual and crippled disk can be had
for $11.00!  Shucks, the reference manual is worth the $11.00.  Being
able to look at the software is a nice bonus.
    Finally, if I were a developer, I'd make sure that my final
product includes a backup disk of the original if my product was
a likely candidate for piracy forcing me TO INSTALL COPY PROTECTION.
    AppleWriter did this for their product.  That was a long time
ago but I still think it is a good idea.
    If I were forced to install copy protection, then I would make
sure that the product was able to be installed on a hard drive.
    Oh well...
    Just as Terrell tried to address this awful scum bag problem and
flopped, in my opinion, so did I.  It is difficult to fight those
who, through trashy ethics, find it ok to steal.  They are going to
steal, no matter what is done.
    The bottom line is whether the software is making a profit.  We've
got to evangelise the ST so that its volume will pick up.
    Ok, flame me.  I meant this to be a simple comment.  Didn't mean
for it to be a book.

Larry Rymal <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>