blog: rapidshare to the dog house

[dunno]

I thought you were joking when you said

*now where is that darn crack for M$ Office 2007*

You don't need a crack. You need a serial.

Errm, shows you how much I know about this stuff, I was indeed joking.

[Tuxman]

Who needs Office 2007 when he can use Open Source?

[IneedHelp]

Who needs Office 2007 when he can use Open Source?

I pirate it for the pretty icons.

[Tuxman]

There's nothing pretty with them.

[IneedHelp]

They're rainbow-sih and descriptive and standardized. Makes you wanna have them hanging on your desktop.

[Tuxman]

They're rainbow-sih and descriptive and standardized.

Following which standard, compared to OpenOffice's Tango! ones?

[IneedHelp]

The item over an upper-left-rounded-corner square standard.

[Tuxman]

Proprietary, that is?

[IneedHelp]

I'd say yes since they pack their OS releases in the same manner.

[Tuxman]

Now that's a funny definition of "standardized".

[Gary M. Mugford]

By an odd co-incidence, I read your blog minutes after getting the install instruction from a Finnish company for a flow chart generator I bought yesterday.  The instructions are to: Install the demo (done, that's why I ordered the product). Then use the links provided to download the FULL version, using the randomly generated username and password. Overwrite the demo files with the FULL VERSION files. Run the program and unlock the application, using the password in the email. Then log onto the internet and Activate the program, following the applications instructions to do so. The instructions then concluded with this little nugget: Activation is tied to your hardware and windows user account.

My immediate reaction was to find a way to get out of this purchase. It's not a cheap product. The protection is, I believe overkill and a pain in the butt. Even the last thing bothered me, since the current machine isn't long for the main working machine. Something better is in the pipeline. And it's going to be a hassle to get it moved over when that times come.

Ultimately, the spark of anger blew itself out and I came the conclusion that the guy is only trying his best to protect his investment in time and labour. I write systems software that has zero chance of being pirated and a point of sale system that I do admit I'm occasionally troubled at how easy it would be to steal. But it's a house system used by a chain of comic shops and works the way they work. So, it's paid for and it would be awkward to use elsewhere. I don't lose much sleep over it.

On the other hand, I DO feel like sending the Finnish fellow a link to cracktracker and asking him to use it and let up just a little on the Byzantine maze thrown up before legitmate use.

GM

[nikos]

if this product is anything useful and mildly popular, I bet there are already patches to deactivate this 'phone home' activation. Getting so anxious about protection indicates that the author is probably new to the business

[Kilmatead]

Windows OEM licenses are half the price of retail licenses, but come with the caveat that "they are tied to the hardware" and in effect are intended to die with the machine.  But what happens?  Say you change your motherboard on a six-month basis (some people do) - sure enough Windows says that license is no good.  So, you ring up the help centre and say "my mobo died" and they give you a new code, just like that.  You can do this as many times as you like, as they don't argue with hardware "failure".  And, just for good measure, the "popularity" of Win7 (and it's attendant "upgrade problems") has meant the MS helpline is rather busy, so in the last year you've only needed to speak to a nice computer which asks for your old code, then a multiple-choice reason why you need a new one ("Press 1 for Nuclear Holocaust", "Press 2 if Fluffy ate the disc") and presto, the nice computer voice issues you a new license.

Which begs the question why anyone buys retail licenses for twice the price?

A strange policy.

[noutters]

Hi Nikos, I salute your intent to track and fight piracy, but is there not a risk that your program will be used to easily find illegally distributed software on the net?  :x

[kunkel321]

I have to admit I don't usually buy software unless I can use some version of it (lite, cracked, old, etc).  With X2, I used the Lite version for years before buying.  Alot of places will make previous versions of their stuff free from time to time.  Serif is a good example of this.  So is Techsmith.  For example if Snagit is in verision 9, they'll make version 7 free as a plubicity stunt.  This method has hooked me on more software than any other, and it allows the developer to maintain a bit more control over what is happening...  Just a thot..