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From: nw@vaxine.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Mimetics, Pro MIDI Studio, and Copy Protection
Message-ID: <399@vaxine.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 25-Jan-87 09:49:41 EST
Article-I.D.: vaxine.399
Posted: Sun Jan 25 09:49:41 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Jan-87 05:55:43 EST
Organization: Automatix, Inc., Billerica, MA
Lines: 37

(repost -- apologies if you've already seen this)

I have a (possibly naive) question about copy protection:  I
bought "Soundscape Pro MIDI Studio" for my Amiga.  I was pleased to
note that there was no mention of copy protection anywhere on the
box, nor in the manual.  In fact, the manual is completely silent about
backing up the program.

Here's why:  If you copy the disk using any flavor of standard Workbench
or CLI disk copy command, Pro MIDI Studio (I'll call it PMS) will CRASH
YOUR MACHINE when you start it up.

Not yet troubled, I pulled out my Marauder II (which claims it can back
up PMS) and tried that.  Close, but no cigar.  Now I can boot PMS and
actually use it, but all forms of "SAVE" command have been disabled.
Ok for demo or playback mode, but not terribly useful for real work.

So, as far as I can tell, Mimetics (the creators of PMS) expect me
to put my $130 disk in the drive, and leave it there.  Is this for real?
Am I alone in being shocked at this?  I should point out that we use those
3.5" floppy disks here at Automatix in our product (I wrote our file system
code for the beasts) and experience tells me that sooner or later I will
lose my disk.

Is this to be expected with most commercial software?  Do people really
put their one and only distributed copy of software into a machine on
a regular basis?  Egad!  Imagine if UNIX development machines were run this
way -- it would go something like this:

     "Sorry, but our RA81 went south (again).  I called Berkeley and they
      will send a new copy of the 4.3 distribution as soon as they receive
      a copy of our receipt.  We'll be back on line in 2 or 3 weeks"

Somewhat disenchanted with this purchase ...

Neil Webber     Automatix Inc (or current resident)     Billerica MA
                        {decvax,allegra}!encore!vaxine!nw