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Re: hard disk code (OT'ish)

To: Getting Started <gettingstarted at lists dot realsoftware dot com>
Subject: Re: hard disk code (OT'ish)
From: Phil Mobley <phil at mobleybros dot com>
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 12:07:03 -0700
Delivered-to: gettingstarted at lists dot realsoftware dot com
References: <149 dot 347593fd dot 2e8b0104 at aol dot com>
On Sep 28, 2004, at 11:01 AM, GAmoore at aol dot com wrote:

Well I was in a coffee shop using Maple (math software) on my laptop, and some 19 y.o. kid comes up and wants to know what I am doing cuz it looks cool. I didn't expect he had heard of Maple since even my calculus students have never heard of it. But he said he not only knew it but had a copy plus copies of Photoshop and .....(long list).... and he would be happy to share his warez. It seems like there is some sort of piracy underground network. I am amazed that not one but all of these famous programs can be broken and pirated, and I wonder what the financial incentive is. I guess you can pickup a cracked Photoshop on the strees of Moscow or Bejieng for $2 or something.

Here is an article about REALbasic software protection which you might find interesting... this was origianlly posted on the NUG a few years ago, but lives on at ResExcellence (April 25, 2002):

http://www.resexcellence.com/realbasic/articles/2002/04-25-02/ index.shtml

There are a lot of things that you can do as developers to keep track of software licenses.

For example, one of the things that I have implemented for my betas is that they will check my website for updates every 7 days. If they were licensed copies instead of betas, they *could* also post the serial number (using the HTTPSocket headers) and the serial number including the IP address would be included on the server logs. Since people can legitimately have multiple, IP addresses (home/work) Since I have programmed the app to only check once every 7 days, excessive checks for updates with the same serial number would raise a RED FLAG -- which would most likely be caused because the purchaser shared his key code with others. There is nothing that I would/could do about current copies installed, but I would immediately post a new installer/app on the website with that key code blacklisted.

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