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From: ray@othervax.UUCP (Raymond D. Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc,net.micro
Subject: Re: software protection - dongles & other gizmos
Message-ID: <434@othervax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Jul-85 13:54:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: othervax.434
Posted: Tue Jul 30 13:54:47 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Aug-85 20:30:39 EDT
References: <433@othervax.UUCP> <1775@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: ray@othervax.UUCP (Raymond D. Dunn)
Organization: Philips Information Systems - St. Laurent  P.Q., Canada
Lines: 49
Xref: linus net.micro.pc:4458 net.micro:9960
Summary: 



> You do NOT have the right to carry the program home!
> You do NOT have the right to use it on several CPU's simultaneously!
> You do NOT have the right to pass GO!
> You do NOT have the right to collect $200!
> You ONLY have the right to play by the published rules of the game....
> .
> .
> Ray Dunn

> > In a perfectly reasonable discussion of problems with copy
> > protection methods which rely on serial numbers of dongles or
> > cpus, I mention the problem with running two different programs
> > on two different machines if the two programs require the same
> > dongle.  The referenced article flames me for advocating the
> > running of one program on several cpus simultaneously!
> > .
> > .
> > --henry schaffer  n c state univ

Yes - I agree, (public) apologies Henry, I chose to quote the wrong point
from the wrong article from a long series of articles on the subject of
software protection which at best were sympathetic to the need for
protection only if it did not infringe on that letter writer's particular
ideas of what he should be able to do with it.

As to flaming you Henry, ah well, I thought I tried to be humorous about it,
but if you take differences of opinion seriously, then in future I shall use
the impersonal "one" instead of "you", i.e.

"One does NOT have the right etc etc"

I'm glad to see you do not seem to disagree with the basic points made.

You are right of course, each program requires its own dongle (just as every
real man does :-), now, hmmm, if we just put some ROM in the dongle - HEY,
we can throw away that stupid floppy disk all together, and sell all software
on a ROM CARTRIDGE readable to ram from an i/o port!

By the way I haven't seen any discussion (may have missed it) on the
repercussions of networks and thus shared copies of proprietary software -
do we really have to have multiple copies of a program on the network?

I still believe protection problems MUST be solved soon for the software
industry to survive.

Ray Dunn.  Philips Information Systems.
	   ....philabs!micomvax!othervax!ray