I agree with you frogboy..for the ones who bought the cd..games or other forms of entertainment..and some software out there is madd expensive..one lil scratch..and thats like a couple of hundreds or thousands gone down the drain..i think that if you buy something for that much amount of money..you should be able to do what you want with it..its yours..i had a question about this screenshot..everytime i send it..it says that the image didnt go through..and i dont know why..i did it the same method as the other ones...any input admin frogboy and/or Admin Jafo? thanks

About not wanting to cart CDs everywhere...Have you ever heard of CloneCD? Well, you can make copies of "copy-protectes" for legitimate uses. Included in the program is an add-on called VirtualCloneDrive. It lets you mount an ISO and use it as a virtual CD drive. There are other progs that do this, but this one works with the copy-protection. What I've done is made ISOs of all my games, stored them locally on my hard drive (you will need gobs of space to do this) and simply mount what I want when I want. It also reduces wear and tear on the actual discs. Give it a shot.

I don't think that companies ever wills top piracy of any form which concerns software, music or other stuff what ever they do. Maybe they can limit it, so that it is more less spread on the net, but those who really want it will get it anyway.

I'm a little torn on this issue.

On one side, yes, with some games/programs you really don't need to worry about pirates, as they are essentially based on the internet, and as such you can verify everything server-side. MMORPGs come to mind there.

However, if its on a local machine, there simply IS NO WAY to implement any effective copyprotection. It does not matter if the program requires a download, server-side verification and whatnot.

And as you rightly pointed out, it just inconveniences customers. Personally, I buy everything I use. However, there have been a few cases where I lost the original registration info or CD, and guess what? Sure as heck I see that I get around that, one way or another.

I'm much happier with Stardocks business model, as I can easily recover lost keys, get the software back rather quickly... and am back in business in no time.

Not sure about other forms of software, but as far as games go this is one of the best and so true piracy article's i've ever read.

I hate having to find my game cd and stick it in the drive just so as i can play >

maybe someone can explain this to me, but why is putting a no cd crack onto a game YOU OWN wrong? I understand why they come about (piracy), but some people are like me and hate swapping CDs so often. If I own the game, and I put a no cd crack on to avoid frequent swapping, should I feel quilty in some way?

the ONLY people that cd copy protection stops is the casual person who feels like sharing a cd with a friend of theirs... or someone trying to copy a cd from work

it will NEVER stop real pirates
nothing has yet
flexlm
copycop

you name it
it'll be cracked in HOURS

even subscription systems don't stop piracy
you can crack their protection/holding also

MMORPG's?
There are two home made servers floating around that people came up with, while I'm not sure if people are even still working on them, they WORKED and well at that. So no, nothing is actually safe.

And please don't keep up with the guise that Macromedia or any of them price their software the way they do because of piracy, its because they CAN, because they OWN the market.

I agree, I used to pirate your software, but what I noticed was that it simply wasn't worth pirating. Your company was updating it so often, and with so many new features, that my pirated version would be almost instantly out of date. I'd always be wanting that new feature in WindowsBlinds ver x.xx or wanting to test out that new cursorXP program.

So I got a membership, and I love it. Its my belief that if a software company can offer me solid software that is consistantly being honed and updated while also offering me a few perks along the way, then I'll buy right in to the subscription model. Otherwise, ill fight vehemently against it.

As for games, I'll pirate them. If they're good, i'll buy. If they include multiplayer thats really solid (Battlefield) I'll buy. Otherwise, they get uninstalled. Its as simple as that, I can't afford to spend money on $70 games only to find them to be stale and uninteresting. So I pirate, and only once I've gotten a taste of the full game do I buy.

Hallelujah! Someone finally gets it. It's the simple economics of it. If there is enough value to being a customer, most people will chose that option. I can't even tell you how many times I rebuild my desktop and laptop(I'm a software developer), and I love the fact that re-loading everything from my ObjectDesktop Suite is so darn simple. Low cost + ease of use + frequent updates = many loyal customers I'm glad to see Stardock not capitulating into the growing trend of treating customers like criminals, and showing their success with healthy profits.

I've lost the CD's to games I love to play and had to go to the net to get the cracks. I've bought $60 games that really sucked and made me wish I hadn't spent the money on it. Just last month I wanted to load up some old games that I hadn't played in a while, but when I tried to download the most recent updates, it complained that my CD Serials were no longer valid. Argh! >

Make it cheaper and easier and you will make great profit on the volume of customers....

Now if the music industry would only figure this out. Their customers are telling them in droves that they are not willing to shell out $16 for a CD that they can't copy to their computer or portable player and has 50% crappy songs on it...

Thanks Brad.

I would have to agree with FrogBoy. I have been deeply involved in the computer industry for about 20 years now. In that time I have seen copy protection devices of one form or another, come and go. The results have always been the same. Ultimately, lost revenue to the manufacturer. Wasted time, effort and money to devise the copy protection, lost sales due to customer inconvenience. For me, the bottom line is simple.

Make the product worth the money and you don't need to protect it!

This is where Microsoft has such a problem. Their products aren't worth what they charge, and as such, they have created one of the worst piracy problems of all time. In most cases, we are FORCED to use their products and thus, they can charge what they will, pushing those of us that can't afford their products, into pirating them.

I have been running a small web-hosting business for many years, and the cost is enormous. Once in a while though, I do find a product that is worth paying the thousands of $ for and I will actually buy it, even though I could easily pirate it. In the past I have pirated products, used them for a while, then find the one that actually works well and I buy it. It upsets me to see so many companies (software, games, etc.) that feel they can doop the consumer into spending so much money for a poor product with lousy customer service. NO VALUE...

In the long run, the consumer controls the piracy protection. If the product shows no value, steal it! If it's a good value, support the producer and buy it!

Wonderful topic!! One that I have thought a great deal about over the years. Thanks... great comments!

It's the same story all over again We had this debate when audio-tape was introduced and we had it when video-tape was...in both those cases the problem was solved by adding to the price of the blank media , a very elegant solution in my opinion.I think making a copy for personal use should be perfectly legal and in no way should be prevented by the producer of the software ( be it a game or application ). Case in point : I bought perfectly legal copies of the tomb-raider series games ( all 5 of them , haven't bought the new one yet ) and made copies of the original cd's straight away . In hindsight this was a very wise decision as the quality of the originals left lots to be desired : the original cd's are now completely unusable At about the sam time I also bought a copy of fifa 98 and tried to make a copy of that one also , just in case .This software was equipped with a very good copy-prevention system though which made it impossible to make a copy ( even for personal use ). This original cd , after a while , was also useless and wouldn't load .But this time : no copy I tried to get a replacement-cd , but was told the malfunction of the cd was caused by me trying to make a copy of it and so got no replacement and no refund !! I think this is an outrageous policy and will do the industry far more harm in the end then whatever piracy is around .My opinion is clear on this issue :
- if you want to prevent piracy , make sure your service and client-support is second to none . The surplus you get from very good support is reason enough to opt to purchase the software..rather then risk to have faulty software and nowhere to turn.
- the only way to compensate for the loss of revenue piracy is causing is to add something to the price of the blank media ( you can't combat sharing-communities or copying because people will always find a way : simply because the blank media is freely available and rightfully so )

The way things are going now is an exact repeat of what we saw with audio- and video - tape : trying to prevent something from happening after it is already happening ....I admit : I download mp3's now and again ( even the occasional piece of software , but when I hear 2 or three songs that are really good I'm more inclined to buy the cd , not lessand when I like some piece of software I sre want to support the producers thereof ... but let's face it : there is no wy to get rid of piracy and to attempt to do that is a waste of energy better spent on good consumer-support ( prime example is Trillian , I can't believe people who want to rip of such a small company for 25 lousy dollars !! )

The mainframes and microframes had copy protection for years. One method is a SSD chip that gives each PC a unique hash total. When you install software, you need to register with the manufacture. That way they can verify if you are loading a copy that was paid for.

I see no problem if PCs begin using a secure system similar to the SSD chip.

Remember these thoughts:
No one is forcing you to buy or pirate software. It's your choice, good or bad.

It's stealing no matter the amount, level or justification. If some amount/level/justification is OK then what's the cutoff, and what slippery slope will this cause later down the road?