Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:11402 comp.misc:1732
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!quintus!ok
From: ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Copy protection and the consumer
Message-ID: <556@cresswell.quintus.UUCP>
Date: 21 Jan 88 02:45:57 GMT
References: <4663@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <3823@husc6.harvard.edu> <1319@looking.UUCP>
Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 20
Summary: yes we have seen serial numbers

In article <1319@looking.UUCP>, brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
> We haven't seen hardware serial numbers up to now, and we won't see them,
> because it's against the interest of the hardware vendors to do anything
> to prevent software piracy.  It's good for a hardware vendor to sell a machine
> that it's easy to get "free" software for.

Most models of VAX have hardware serial numbers.
The Xerox Lisp Machines "know their own names".
On many other machines, an Ethernet address is good enough identification.
On a SUN, for example, it is easy to get a number which identifies the
machine.

It *is* in the interest of the hardware vendor to prevent piracy
of *their* software.  So you are likely to see hardware serial numbers
on machines whose manufacturers have a range of unbundled software.

If software developers provided better products for machines with
hardware serial numbers (e.g. provide the upgrades 6 months or a year
earlier on such machines) maybe more hardware manufacturers would
find it in their interests to provide this simple feature.