Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!dkuug!iesd!iesd!fischer From: fischer@iesd.auc.dk (Lars P. Fischer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: NeXT Software Distribution Message-ID: Date: 8 Oct 89 19:25:37 GMT References: <32739@cornell.UUCP> <2235@hydra.gatech.EDU> <33442@srcsip.UUCP> <2246@hydra.gatech.EDU> Sender: news@iesd.auc.dk (UseNet News) Distribution: comp Organization: Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Aalborg Lines: 27 In-reply-to: scott@prism.gatech.EDU's message of 3 Oct 89 16:57:54 GMT In article <2246@hydra.gatech.EDU> scott@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Holt) writes: >Another problem with hostid based copy protection is that when you swap the >CPU board, your hostid can change. On Suns this is avoided by replacing >the ROM from the dead board in the replacement - that way, even though its >essentailly a different system, the hostid remains the same. I don't think, >however, this saves you when you upgrade to a new system or do something >else which makes the old ROMS unusable. Like disaster striking while swapping ROM's (hey, Murphy, knew you'd drop by today :-). Of course, you can get a replacement ROM, but that takes *time* (I know, 'cause I've tried it) >All this generate one very important question to ask when dealing with vendors >(like Frame) who use hostid/ethernet based copy protection: "what does it >take to transfer the license." This is important becuase you don't want to >get stuck with software that becomes obsolete when your hardware does. And the problem then is: how to design a copy protection scheme that allows transfers, e.g. allows passwords to be called back? /Lars -- Copyright 1989 Lars Fischer; you can redistribute only if your recipients can. Lars Fischer, fischer@iesd.auc.dk, {...}!mcvax!iesd!fischer Department of Computer Science, University of Aalborg, DENMARK. "That makes 100 errors; please try again" --TeX