software piracy (was "Interactive and me")

[Jim Sullivan]

In article <1990Jul13.231942.14009 at ico.isc.com> rcd at ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn) writes:
>jim at sco.COM (Jim Sullivan) writes:
>> Software piracy exists and until the ethics and morals of the software user
>> community improve, companies will have to go to serialization codes and such
>> to try and prevent software piracy...
>
>I find this attitude very unsettling.  I don't believe the "ethics and
>morals" of the software community are any better or worse than the world at
>large.  Moreover, and my main complaint: *Even if they are worse* this is
>no way to talk to users!  This is not the proper attitude for going into a
>business relationship.  It's one thing to say, "I'm providing a product to
>you and I expect you to pay me for it."  Caution in business dealings is
>wise.  But the attitude above is more like "I think you're going to try to
>cheat me, so I'm taking pre-emptive action."

But software has been sold like this for years, with cottage industries to
break the copy protection schemes.  While I don't like it, it is reality.
I believe that you mis-understand me (and I wasn't clear anyways).  I don't
like serialization, but I understand why companies go for it.  (It's
interesting that we both work for companies that use serialization schemes :-)

>>...If anyone has a better idea of how to
>> prevent multiple copies of the software to be installed, then please, present
>> their solution.
>
>That's an interesting question, but perhaps we should back up a bit and get
>some background information:
>	- What is the level of "software pirating"?  Sure, it happens...
>	  but how much?
>	- What are the most common forms of pirating?  E.g., is it single
>	  system, installed once then given to a friend?  Single license
>	  used on multiple machines in a company?  Resellers copying
>	  systems and selling black-market copies as if they were
>	  originals?

We have caught people installing our software on multiple machines, in multiple
sites because they called for support and gave the same serialization code for
the different sites/machines.  I don't think I can give more details than that.
It does happen, and for the reseller who only sells 2 or 3 a month, an extra
system or two a month is significant.  ISC claims that the pressure for this
came for the resellers.  I can understand why this pressure was applied (while
I might not agree with the solution, I understand the problem)

>-- 
>Dick Dunn     rcd at ico.isc.com  -or-  ico!rcd          (303)449-2870
>   ...Reality is neat!  It works even if you don't believe in it!

-- 
Jim Sullivan					Youth Culture Killed My Puppy!
SCO Canada Inc. (Formerly HCR Corporation)
...!uunet!hcr!jim jim at hcr.com			Opinions are mine.
416 922 1937