Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!uunet!mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!tuda!n143u From: J.D.Coleman@newcastle.ac.uk (Julian Coleman) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Any piracy statistics in the US ?? Summary: Use of serial numbers for software protection Message-ID: <1991Jun25.111145.27795@newcastle.ac.uk> Date: 25 Jun 91 11:11:45 GMT References: <292@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp> Sender: J.D.Coleman@newcastle.ac.uk Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU Lines: 28 Zay2444w164w@mantis.co.uk writes: >will@rins.ryukoku.ac.jp (will) writes: >> Getting in on this a little late. But isn't it possible to program >> your software to read the serial numbers on the say (CPU and/or FPU) >> before the software will function. Then all you need to do is require >> the purchaser to do is give his/her serial numbers when purchasing the >> software and everyones happy. > >Except, of course, those people who have a network of fifty machines, any one >of which they might want to run their legally-owned software on. We have the Arc/Info GIS system running on our Sun network here. Each time it is started, it reads the cpu number of the machine and generates a code based on that number. A text file contains a list of cpu number and code for any number of machines. If the code is not found in the text file, the software will not run. In order to get the code, we gave the cpu numbers of the machines we wanted it to run on to the suppliers and they gave us the codes to enter into the text file. This seemed like a simple solution to me, especially for more expensive products, though I'm not sure it's applicable to 'off the shelf' packages. Julian -- Julian Coleman < J.D.Coleman@newcastle.ac.uk > -- Department of Surveying, University of Newcastle upon Tyne -- Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. < +44 91 222 6739 > -- #include