Xref: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu comp.os.msdos.programmer:23432 alt.msdos.programmer:6872 sci.electronics:54265 Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!darwin.sura.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!msuinfo!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk!warwick!zaphod.crihan.fr!pipex!uknet!mcsun!sunic!isgate!krafla!einari From: einari@rhi.hi.is (Einar Indridason) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer,alt.msdos.programmer,sci.electronics Subject: Re: How to the disks copy protected. Message-ID: <6861@krafla.rhi.hi.is> Date: 26 Apr 93 18:03:44 GMT References: <1993Apr23.171020.23982@csus.edu> <1993Apr26.163640.27632@csus.edu> Sender: usenet@rhi.hi.is Followup-To: comp.os.msdos.programmer Lines: 60 Nntp-Posting-Host: hengill.rhi.hi.is In <1993Apr26.163640.27632@csus.edu> kschang@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang) writes: >In article >jmiller@terra.colostate.edu (Jeff Miller) writes: >>In an earlier article Kasey Chang wrote: >>: Nothing, but if you read my WHOLE suggestion, I'm saying that you register >>: via MAIL by mailing in your registration card, THEN the company send you >>: the patch which includes the info you put on the registration card. >>The problem with this scheme, is that when I buy a game, I want to play it >>*THAT* day...mailing a card to and from California would probably take a week >>or more. >I didn't say the program is DISABLED, did I? (I HATE!!!! it when people >take my words out of context...) I mean that once you have installed it, >you cannot DEinstall it without registering it, or transfer it to another >machine, or SOME SORT OF LIMITATION (the author will decide), WHICH WILL >BE REMOVED WHEN THE PROGRAM IS REGISTERED. WHAT??!!!! You can't remove it, unless you register? You gotta be joking, right? What happens if I get a demo-version of that program, install it, and then decide that I don't like it. Do I have to register to be able to get rid of it? (Hell, no, that is the last thing I would think of!) If that is what you mean, then you would better make pretty sure, that a statement to that effect is printed loud and clear on the package! A better way to implement the above mentioned scheme is (IMHO) to allow anyone to install the program, but if they register, they get some additional features enabled. It could mean only one new .EXE file needed to be copied, to have got the full-version of the program. Of course anyone is _free_ to _delete_ or _remove_ that program at whatever time they like. Still, we face the trouble of 'moving' the new .EXE file around. That could be solved by having the user registering him self, and get back a specially marked for him (or her) a new .exe file. As for some sort of limitations, here are some suggestions: Limit the size of data that the program can work with, Disable saving the data, Print it out with some defects in the output (but be sure to mark them as such) Let some pop-up screen appear for ca. 10 secs. when the program is started and/or exited etc.... but DON'T have it that you _must_ register to be able to remove it. -- einari@rhi.hi.is