Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!dlb!zygot!bruceh From: bruceh@zygot.UUCP (Bruce Henderson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Machine serial numbers Summary: a bad idea Keywords: ethernet Message-ID: <2124@zygot.UUCP> Date: 30 Jul 89 02:48:13 GMT References: <347@nanovx.UUCP> Organization: ATI Wares Team Lines: 19 In article <347@nanovx.UUCP>, matt@nanovx.UUCP (Matt Brandt) writes: > One easy serial number you should be able to get to on a cube would be the > Ethernet address. That should be different for every machine and you could > use it in the trivial copy protect scheme somebody asked about... This is a really bad idea, because NeXT intends to release a new PROM with the 1.0 release. The ether address is in these PROMS, and so if anyone uses your product and NeXT decides to update the firmware, you screw your customer.... a very bad thing. apple!zygot!bruceh "The ATI wares team" -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Bruce Henderson Software Engineer zygot!bruceh@Apple.COM "Sorry, Mathematica can't goon this much" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^