shareware/demoware

[Richard Gaskin]

Ivers, Doug E wrote:

> I'm actually not interested in thwarting crackers.  I don't think more than 1%
> of my target audience even know that they can go to certain web sites and look
> for unlock codes for a particular piece of software.
> 
> All I'm interested in is preventing a customer (who has paid me and has a
> valid unlock code) from giving the unlocked copy to a friend (or just sending
> them the username and unlock code).  I certainly want to prevent this in the
> windows world, and if possible, also for Mac and other OS's.
> 
> Can I do this with Rev?  Seems to me that I need access to the hard drive
> serial number or something similar.

If there's a reliable strategy for this, it could likely also be implemented
in Rev.

But given that all software packages from Microsft, Apple, Adobe,
Macromedia, and other major vendors hven't implemented a way to prevent
users from trading serials, my own hunch has been that dongles are the only
almost-sure way to prevent it.

Unless you're making software aimed at musicians, or the Arab or Asian
markets, or other niches where piracy is known to be both blatant and
widespread, it probaby isn't worth troubling legitimate users with hardware
protection.  

-- 
 Richard Gaskin 
 Fourth World Media Corporation
 Custom Software and Web Development for All Major Platforms
 Developer of WebMerge 2.0: Publish any Database on Any Site
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