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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!gatech!seismo!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!brown
From: brown@nicmad.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Copy Protection
Message-ID: <456@nicmad.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Dec-85 10:41:12 EST
Article-I.D.: nicmad.456
Posted: Fri Dec  6 10:41:12 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Dec-85 03:18:41 EST
References: <506@uvaee.UUCP>
Reply-To: brown@nicmad.UUCP (Mr. Video)
Organization: Nicolet Instrument Corp. Madison WI
Lines: 38

In article <506@uvaee.UUCP> jaj@uvaee.UUCP (James A. Jokl) writes:
>
>A friend who is not on the net asked me to post this.  He is about to begin
>selling a data base application designed to run on IBM PCs and compatables,
>and wishes that it be copy protected.  Will anyone with information on where
>to purchase such copy protection software/hardware please respond to me by
>mail.  If there is sufficient interest, I will summarize to the net.

I realize that you wanted e-mail about this, but I do want to get this point
on to everyone.  Now, this is personal opinion, so take that in mind.

If I were you, I would tell your friend to forget it.  Some companies all
ready have.  Because of hard disks, and the fact that they do fail, any
copy protection scheme that puts something up there (like Softguard on Lotus
123, and others), will have problems if the disk fails.  You will have
to either reformat or replace it.  The protection information is then lost.
More trouble than it is worth.

But, here is the biggest reason of all.  Copy protection doesn't really
protect anything.  Why?  Because soon after a new copy protection scheme is
put onto a diskette, someone in computer land figures it out and gets 
around it.  The cure is then placed upon BBS systems around the country.
Case in point:  Lotus 123, version 2.0, contains Softguard copy protection,
version 2.03A.  The way around it has been on BBSs for quite awhile now.

Do you really think that it is worth the extra expense putting copy protection
on a program (using professionally generated protection schemes like Softguard),
when someone out there will break it?  Sell it at a reasonable price and you
won't have to.

End of opinion.  [Here come the flames :-(]
-- 

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Mr. Video      seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown
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