Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-ncis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL From: SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Apple Message-ID: <8901131311.aa03814@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> Date: 13 Jan 89 06:52:51 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 38 >I don't think you can make a rational case for "copy protection driving >up software prices". Certainly that is not the opinion of software >publishers. What ho! A gauntlet thrown? How's this: the software (sometimes hardware) needed to install copy protection on mass produced disks isn't free either (not even "shareware" ;-). Since copy protection schemes generally are cracked approximately 8 milliseconds after the first disk is sold, it's necessary to keep investing in new (often more exotic = more expensive) copy protection systems in order to stay ahead of the "backup" programs (I doubt there are enough actual 'crackers' in the World to have much economic significance all by themselves; it's their passion for sharing their outcomes with everyone else that has impact). Who do you suppose PAYS for all that investment in copy protection? I doubt Lotus dropped copy protection just because users complained about the inconvenience of keeping a "key disk" in the 'a' drive. They did it because enough competing spreadsheet programs became established in the market to lead to REAL price competition, and Lotus could no longer maintain a margin large enough to include "passing the copy protection costs along to the consumer." I agree that the logic that piracy increases prices because producers set prices high enough to pay for both the purchased and unregistered copies is false. Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls from Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246