Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:11478 comp.misc:1749
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcrware!jejones
From: jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Copy protection and the consumer (dongles)
Message-ID: <598@mcrware.UUCP>
Date: 21 Jan 88 12:23:28 GMT
References: <4663@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <22628@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <1852@optilink.UUCP>
Organization: Microware Systems Corp., Des Moines, Ia.
Lines: 17
Summary: dongles vs. multitasking

In article <1852@optilink.UUCP>, cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> At least that's the theory, and if they worked, they would be a perfectly
> acceptable way of copy protecting very expensive software (though not
> justifiable for software that sells for, say, $30).

Well...if I'm running OS-9 on my CoCo 3, or running Multifinder on a Mac,
or using an Amiga, how many dongles do I need? (Can they stack up on the
serial port? Even if they can, what if I shell out from a terminal program
while online and decide I need to use a dongle-protected program?)

If I dial my home computer up from elsewhere, can I get a robot arm to install
the dongle for me? :-)  (It would have to call me back if I only had one serial
port. :-)  All this, combined with the extreme ease with which I'm sure I'd lose
dongles, doesn't make me like them very much.

		Cheers,
		James Jones