serial numbers on standalones

[Timothy Miller]

On Mar 16, 2013, at 12:00 PM, kee nethery <kee at kagi.com> wrote:

> The people who make a lot of money selling software are those that focus on how to get more people to use their software, not those who focus on how to get less people to use their software. 
> 
> The "get more people" group occasionally will "crack" their software and upload that crack to a crack site so that people can steal their software. Having a crack shows that someone cared enough about the software to spend time to crack it because of the street cred that would give them. No one cracks lame software thus … this software must not be lame. In addition, no one wants to be the second person to crack some software so other cracks don't appear.
> 
> Secondly, most people that pirate software don't really use it. And if they do, you've just had someone experience your software and figure out what it is good for. People like me who pay for software, ask for recommendations, and I'm fairly certain that many of the recommendations come from people who have pirated software. Pirates can be your advertising channel.
> 
> Finally, the crack if the pirate is still using the cracked software after 6 months, they can be converted into a buyer. It has some weird bug that pops up. The solution to that specific bug is to buy the upgrade. If someone running a cracked version gets that error message, they are using it for real and they will frequently pay for the upgrade.
> 
> Kee Nethery

Wow! You really nailed it. I've read similar commentaries, but yours is clear and concise.

I'm working on a book, thinking about self-publishing, selling to the public from a website, while taking care to maintain control of the copyright, maybe going with a  commercial publisher later, if it's successful. I've feared piracy, heard both sides of the debate.

You've convinced me (unless someone later on this thread changes my mind).

With software, it seems, one way to limit piracy damage is to upgrade routinely. With literature, it might help to release periodic revisions, or regularly add new material.

Cheers,


Tim Miller