What's the Right Amount of Copy Protection? 561
WPIDalamar writes "I'm currently working on a piece of commercial software that will be available through a download and will use a license key to activate it. The software is aimed at helping people schedule projects and will be targeted mostly to corporate users. With the recent Windows Vista black screen of death, it got me thinking about what sort of measures I should go through to prevent unauthorized users from using the software. While I don't wish to burden legitimate users, I do want to prevent most piracy. How much copy protection is appropriate? Is it acceptable for the software to phone home? If so, what data is appropriate to report on? The license key? Software version? What about a unique installation ID? Should I disable license keys for small amounts of piracy, like when there's 3 active installations of the software? What about widespread piracy where we detect dozens or hundreds of uses of the same license key? Would a simple message stating the software may be pirated with instructions on how to purchase a valid license be sufficient?"
None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
This may not be what you want to hear but any copy-protection will burden legitimate users. Pirates will remove the copy protection from your software and the unprotected version they create will be more usable than the version you offer.
It doesn't just hurt your customers, it hurts you too. The time you waste trying to create some copy-protection and losing the arms race with the pirates (which you will lose) is time you could have spent making your product better.
The way to beat the pirates is to provide a better service to your customers than they do. The commonly advocated business model is to provide support on the software to paying users - and since your target is business customers this makes a lot of sense.
Businesses, by the way, tend not to pirate on the scale of the private user. Piracy is a big risk to business because businesses have very deep pockets.
In short, the answer is to have no copy protection at all and trust your customers. Trusting the customer is hard but they'll appreciate it.
Simon
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
In the work place, most people might enter a fake installation code for example, but won't go as far as to apply a crack. If the software requires you to apply a crack to use it, then I think most people at work will get their company to buy it. If it just installs anyway with just a small nag screen or something, then most people won't buy it.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
With Elicense, you get an order ID. You enter that, it contacts their server and "unlocks" the software. You can choose how many installations are allowed as well. For example I have a few games that use it that come with two licenses, so you can run it on two computers. Another title only gives you one.
The install is painless (it installs a license control service that in many years of using I've never had any sort of issue with), and it stops a LOT of piracy.
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt they will love to phone or send snail mail.
Re:None at all (Score:4, Funny)
Oh I dunno, that used to work in the seventies and eighties. What'd'ya mean that was years ago, eh? Come 'ere you young hooligan, say that again! Get off my Property!
ZZZzzzzzzzz whut?
Requiring an internet connection. (Score:3, Informative)
One of the pieces of software required a connection to do its activation. No phone or snail mail supported. It was so backwards where we had a tech from the software company online and they didn't know how to activate the software w/o an internet connection. We had to wait for them to send us
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Even though you say that you have never had any problems with it, I would absolutely HATE using anything of the kind, and would actively avoid using any piece of software that uses that kind of activation.
Re:None at all (Score:4, Informative)
You obviously have no clue what you are blabbering about. There is no reason whatsoever why you can't have multiple independent products protected by the same third party mechanism without linking said products together. I know, because I've done it.
In short: Nobody interested in anti-pirating wants the licensing to be in a dedicated dll, since those are easy to locate, break, and replace. Licensing code should always be fully merged into a key component of the product you're protecting and as such be "invisible". That automatically means that you can have multiple copies of it that are not aware of each other and that are automatically uninstalled together with the product they protect.
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe he doesn't, but I do. And I completely agree with him. Installing a background task just to deal with license keys is bad juju. You recommend Elicense. How many other services are there? This isn't the only program I'm likely to install. How many different license key monitors do you think I want running on my machines? How are they all going to interact with each other?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I also agree -- Working for a hardware company that also sells support software, we've found a very elegant solution that has worked quite well while not being too cumbersome:
1. Tie the version of the software you're using to the hardware they have -- basically, sell more than one part of the solution, and make them depend on each other.
2. Provide a "serial number activation"
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not familiar with ELicense but this sounds similar to what we used at a shop I worked at before.
Basically the user entered a "product key" and then the system generated a "unique" install ID and contacted the web server for an activation number. What was cool with the one we used was if your product key was 1234-5678-0123-7890 then the first 5 (or 6 I don't recall) characters of the activation request was based on that product key was the same. the last half of the activation request was all hardware
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
One of the things I will not do, and it's something that causes me to no longer consider registering or paying for a piece of software, is if it has one of the complicated 'validation' schemes like you describe. I will NOT run a piece of software
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
>shareware' that has folders with all the shareware installers and the cd keys, license files, etc. that are collected with them.
'
1. I've outlived more than a couple of developers, both in the sense that individuals died and that companies vanished. I may or may not ever use their software again, but that's my decision not theirs.
2. I've used software in emulation
elicense marketing sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
So how do i get the creepy feeling that this guy isn't entirely honest, but actually an elicense marketing stooge?
The install is painless (it installs a license control service that in many years of using I've never had any sort of issue with), and it stops a LOT of piracy.
Err, yes. I have original software too, but somehow the companies failed to send me regular, detailed newsletters about the LOTS of piracy they stopped with their particiular brand of DRM.
It IS possible to "unwrap" the executable, but of all the Elicense protected software I've used, I've only ever seen one game cracked. (Ironically it is the most obscure of the ones I own.)
Yeah, shure, I too make regular searches on the web for cracked versions of the originals i own, especially when the DRM is soooo good that i dont't want a no-cd crack.
And by the way, what are the multiple(!) games that haven't been cracked? I would really like to buy them, if only for rarity value. After all, in the whole history of mankind they are likley to be the only pieces of software ever that weren't cracked....
I am vehemently opposed to DRM, copy protection, call it what you will, but I find Elicense extremely inoffensive due to it's ease of use.
Yeah, i'm opposed to DRM but happy to install extra software on my computer that monitors me. But i am vehemently against everything else DRM-related, trust me.
DRM should not impact legitimate consumers, and this one is the only one I've come across that has never caused me any sort of negative experience.
Software where you have to enter a code ONCE is really a pain in the ass, believe me. But elicense is soooo easy to use, i have to mention it five times. Please buy our product.
DRM-Companies, i beg you, if you let your marketing division run loose on slashdot, at least stop them from taking drugs. Thanks!
Re:elicense marketing sucks (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Working in a larger environment, the ONLY software we allow ANY kind of phone-home / activation shenanigans is from large vendors that have a proven business record - you know they will be around tomorrow / 3 years from now. Not thrilled about it in any case, but we will deal.
Any smaller vendor is required to put source code in escrow for any such eventuality, and none of that activation crap. We need to be able to move software from one machine to another without someone's blessing in order to handle EOL replacement, swapping out failing hardware, etc.
Re:None at all (Score:4, Insightful)
Activation sucks--Broderbund ripped off a paying customer.
Re:None at all (Score:4, Insightful)
Same -- knowledge is traded for money.
> Assuming copyright was abolished, this would effectively kill off the entire software industry.
Nonsense. Copyright is only a RECENT invention, and other industries where it costs ZERO to copy something, are still around.
People would still pay (gasp!) for software, because most are under the moral law of supporting the authors. (There are a few above it, and a few who think they are above it, but that has always been the case.)
The whole concept of "ownership" is based on a system of greed, because people can't treat others how they want to be treated.
> Going to a system without copyright would quickly destroy any motivation to provide works not directly beneficial to major corporations
Did you forget the fact that BEFORE copyright, people CREATED because they ENJOYED it? Famous works such as The Bible, we written not because of some corporation, but because people wanted to share a different outlook on how to live.
I see tons of open source programs created because a developer found it interesting. Heck, myself I work on one, precisely because I find it fun.
> As an added bonus, medical research would be pretty useless as well. No point researching a drug to cure cancer,
So now you are going to put a price on SAVING a human life?! Yay for capitalism! Screw the long-term thinking of doing things for the greater good, and focus on the short term solution of making a quick buck.
> You seem to forget that people are greedy, and without motivation they don't work.
You seem to forget that money is not the only motivation.
> There must be at least a reasonable hope of profit (either in the traditional sense, or as some sort of personal gratification) before someone is willing to undertake the effort.
Tell me, do you have any hobbies? And you do them for profit??
Someday, the human race will look back at copyright for what it was, a necessary step along the way from when people were focused on controlling their expressions and thinking they determined the "value". I have a dream where someday people will willingly share their creative expressions, and the value of that is not only thought in terms of financial gain, but also by the lasting value it creates in people's lives.
Laws are created BY people, and by the number of people sharing music, videos, etc, more people are ready to acknowledge copyright is an archaic hold-over from when physical things (let alone information) was a form of power; its time to stop being so greedy and short sighted, and look towards the long term where people enjoy sharing (positive) things with each others, and not just focused on what they can get from others.
Peace
Product activation is not appropriate for buisness (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree, you just have to see the hundreds of computers I have seen in several different government offices that use WinZip, they invariably show the startup nag screen telling you how many thousands of files have you compressed and asking you to buy it... of course, you just have to click the continue button and keep using it..
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Also remember, I think people tend to pay more willingly for obscure or specialized software. I don't buy WinZip (or WinRar) because I find them to be basic utilities. If I didn't use WinZip, I could just as easily use some other compression utility and be just as happy. However, I'll drop $25 for a well-built, quality SQL browser/editor. Why? It'
Not strictly true (Score:2)
But using dongle protection is pretty stupid, especially when in some cases it cripples performance (Steinberg's use of dongle copy protection on Cubase has been rumoured to do that).
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Not strictly true (Score:5, Insightful)
So if the customers want the product for free, you work for nothing?
It isn't that simple. Customers want unreasonable things. I want every pizza I ordered to be free, delivered instantly by a dozen naked supermodels. But just because my local pizza company will not provide such a service does not mean a new company will materialize to do so.
throwing out glib comments you read on some web forum does not equate to actual business experience. You cannot pay employees or bills with glib expressions, only profits earned from PAYING customers.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
See, that's because you are unreasonable. Most people will gladly pay a fair price for a good product. It's when we have to pay exorbitant prices for buggy products that we get upset and go to your competitor. And when you throw in "get treated like a thief", that just about guarantees tha
Re:None at all (Score:5, Interesting)
Businesses tend to purchase software they need, yes, but extending of software licenses is often overlooked.
e.g. they buy 5 licenses of your software. A year later, a team member is added to the team using said software. Now there are 6 users. Over time, many more people than the original number of licenses will use the software.
This doesn't happen in all Businesses, but the smaller the more often.
A good idea would be to add "soft activation". This means customer have to activate your software, and the number of currently active machines counted. Deactivating machines should be running a simple tool that removes the software and decrements the activation count on the server. Activation should never fail (even if the activation server is unreachable), but the customer should be reminded if he is running unlicensed software. This way, you can make sure that users don't mistakenly use to many licenses.
Criminal elements will of course find ways around this, so i wouldn't bother with making the activation process very secure - it's essentially just a license counter for your honest customers.
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Any system that requires an active deactivation through a tool on the machines where it is installed is badly designed, because the host might not be available for deactivation. If a PC dies, and is replaced with a new one, you can't deactivate the old installation. Similarly if a PC is restored to a point before the installation occured -- then it's impossible to deactivate. (This is part of what bit the Biosphere users -- some people installed the software, ran into problems, and rolled back to pre-install, and tried again.)
Plus, then you have a potential loophole in that people can install on one machine, back it up, deactivate, install it on a second machine, et cetera, and then restore all the backups, and you have a park full of activated copies.
The only sensible approach that I can see for large scale installations is to count concurrent usage through a network server or appliance, and bill according to peak usage. Anything else is going to create a headache for the admins who have to deal with broken machines and reinstalls on a daily basis, and can't reasonably be expected to hang over people's shoulders to count who is using software either.
Re: (Score:2)
You then can simply make the installation part of the standard build (if necessary), although you may get the problem of someone forgeting to log out of the software hogging a
Re:None at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Good points, but I can not completely agree with you. I personally never found it much of a burden to enter a license key. Even a one-time online activation is OK IMHO as long as it's painless. And I can understand why software companies put these measures in, not to stop pirating at all, but to keep the honest people honest.
I know that piracy is not so much of a problem when it comes to businesses, but consider the following: A company purchased 50 user licenses of a product, but the product has no copy protection whatsoever. Probably the people in charge won't even notice if more than 50 employees install the software - at least not in the companies I have worked so far. OTOH, if this software would have told the 51st user "Your company has no more licenses for you to install the software. You can use this program for another 30 days, but please contact your system admistrators to buy a license for you", the company probably will buy another 20 licenses.
So, IMHO, one-time activation is OK if it doesn't get too much in my way, but phoning home at every start or some annoying procedure like the Vista phone activation (I went through that once - took me more than 1.5 hours to activate a copy of Vista) is not OK.
Re: (Score:2)
Spoken as a person who has apparently never lost a license key.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It depends on how the product is distributed. If it's downloadable then I think a one off registration key is probably a requirement - it doesn't have to be very complex, just a step so that people won't download the product and not get around to paying you.
I'm all for trusting people not to be intentionally dishonest, but I think you'd go broke trusting people not to be slack.
That trick never works. (Score:5, Interesting)
But not one person ever, ever, ever clicked the link.
Re:That trick never works. (Score:4, Funny)
Whoa, hey, back up. Contraction Timer?
Husband: Honey, can you just hold it a second longer?
Wife: STOP PLAYING WITH THAT $#!$(@)#$! PALM AND GET YOUR ASS IN THE CAR!
Husband: But I almost have it uploaded!
Wife: You have no chance to survive make your time.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
This removes the problem of false negatives (since all activations count) and eventually copied serial numbers will be found as the
Fascinating. But Back on Earth, It's Like This: (Score:3, Interesting)
You run cracked software on a workplace PC here in 21st Century Corporate America, you'll be lucky to get away with a strictly worded warning. Get caught again and your employment will be terminated for sure.
On the other hand, install some nice new DRM-free software in the corporate workplace and wave it around enough and it will get copied and brought home by hundreds of non-paying users.
The answer to the man's question lay in just exactly how good and unique his software i
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Having worked on DB2 internally, even *I* needed to get help debugging error messages, and sometimes even the IBM veterans didn't even know what they meant.
This is what happens when you only have 16 error codes that read like "network failure" or "database failure". Ok I'm exaggerating, but in all honesty, most of their error c
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
One thing to note about Paradox is that they make complex strategy games. Their entire 'copy protection' seems to evolve around providing an excellent printed manual.
What kind of 'copy protection' to use depends in part on what kind of software it is. Ideally, you want to give the paying customer some sort of advantage over those using the cracked/pirated version. That can range from a cd-key that enable online multiplayer in games to a good printed manual to access to support/community
Copy Protection is a Myth (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't phone home (Score:5, Insightful)
To use your product a pirate would either have to settle for an old version, or constantly get a new hacked version and new hacked keys. It's enough to eventually get them to be legal.
Remember if you make your product hard to use with lots of negatives like phoning home, them you'll learn the lessons the Record companies are learning. Nobody is bigger than their customers.
Re: (Score:2)
Bzzzzt! Right answer, but not in the way you are thinking. If the price isn't right, the anti-piracy stuff making it difficult does get them to be legal. Often getting legal is simply using a competitor's product.
When MS Office started introducing copy protection and CD Keys (early versions of Works didn't use a CD key), I moved to Star Office by Sun Microsystems. Now I am almost completely on Open Office on Ubuntu and Freespire. The days of picking up a p
Re: (Score:2)
Phoning home is _not_ an option (Score:5, Insightful)
"Phoning home" should never be done. Keep in mind that internet connection isn't flawless, sometimes it doesn't work for one reason or another, and would you really want to get a bunch of angry customers mailing/calling you when the software won't work/install because their internet connections went down for a while.
On top of that, if your main user base is business users, most of them will sit in a protected environment which probably won't let your program phone home even if it tries.
This is just an aside from the real problem with programs "phoning home", though. Integrity and privacy should not be taken ligthly.
Protected Environments. (Score:5, Informative)
I also know, and have worked for, companies where information is so secret (mission critical biz stuff or military) that you have to use a provided laptop in a room with no windows that's shielded from radio wavs... paranoid, yes, but "phone home" software is simply not an option in that case. Also. no phones were allowed in that room so manual "phone home" wouldn't have been possible.
Also, some of us are so paranoid that we don't let anything in/out of our firewalls except our browser application. Mind you, I can still use the interweb and I've never been trojan/virused... except this damn cold I seem to have but I can't blame the internet for everything!
Re: (Score:2)
Phoning home is counterproductive IMHO (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
My home LAN hands out DHCP address that are blocked at the router. It is one of the few things I do to keep leaches off the wireless by dropping them in unroutable space. Only machines with a proper static address can get through the gateway. This has caused problems with many software packages that phone home before permitting you to
A license key is enough. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't require a connection (Score:5, Interesting)
You don't need to go this far: I spent the last 3 weeks on the road with my laptop: Matlab ceased to function as soon as the license key manager got out of touch of the license server. I hate that macromedia shit.
Re: (Score:2)
Showing your lack of skills are you? Some distros might include a desktop program that reminds the user that there are new updates available. If it can't find any repository (or you create a cdrom repository), it can never find any updates so it won't bother you. Just turning off the nagging program works too. Was it too hard to figure that out yourself?
Re: (Score:2)
Windows XP corp and big brand OEM don't need activation either and even whitebox OEM and retail can be phone activated.
As little as it takes... (Score:5, Informative)
As a member of a small corporate IT department, I can tell you that (except for Microsoft itself), software phoning home for anything other than updates means instant banning of your product.
If so, what data is appropriate to report on? The license key?
If you insist on going down that path, what information would really help you reduce piracy? Keep in mind that, merely during the initial evaluation of your software, the same license may get used a dozen times without any intended piracy... "Yup, works on XP. Yup, works on 2k... Oops, blows a gasket on 98... Doesn't seem to like server versions...".
Should I disable license keys for small amounts of piracy, like when there's 3 active installations of the software? What about widespread piracy where we detect dozens or hundreds of uses of the same license key?
That gets tricky... IANAL, but only the big boys like Microsoft can get away with that BS. If you try it, you should probably prepare to get sued.
Now, you do have one chance to block it - At installation. Even I'll allow (grudgingly) most products a one-time online activation. If at that time you deny activation and give an EASY way to contact you to resolve the problem (you can expect them to lie, and should probably just give them a new code, but it might serve as a reminder to the users that they shouldn't make too many more copies), okay, fair game. After-the-fact, though? YOu'll just piss legitimate users off.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Google, absolutely not (except directly, as a web page).
Adobe, you can "break" its phone-home aspects simply by replacing the updater executable (the name of which seems to change with each version) with a stub exe that simply returns 0 (the standard Unix "true" program, if I can say that without causing an argument about true vs. Posixly-true).
And believe me, if I could ban Adobe products, I most certainly would. For supposedly high-quality, nearly-ubi
Code Wheels (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I quite liked the copy protection in Sam and Max Hit the Road, where there was a picture of Sam and Max in fancy dress on each page of the manual and the game asked you to dress them on screen to match page X of the manual. Maybe this guy could take a load of photos of himself in different fancy dress outfits and put them o
Personal Delivery (Score:5, Funny)
Have each copy personally delivered(*) to the client and you will find that they never pass on copies and will faithfully purchase every upgrade you make available.
(*) Personal Delivery service to be carried out by Marco and Guido who have their own, very smart uniforms (Gucci suits, dark glasses) and will also provide their own baseball bats. A personal message from you to the client will also be delivered with every copy of the software with a reassuringly soft, menacing undertone. Contact Marco and Guido DRM(**) Services on 555-NO-REFUSAL.
(**) DRM = Delivery with Real Menace
Do unto others (Score:3, Interesting)
FWIW, I think license keys are fine. But phoning home is not a good idea.
If you can link a license key to a mailing address or email address then that's good (could be yahoo mail doesn't matter - it's a matter of getting some stats).
If you're planning to have future versions of your software then you might as well decide on how upgrades and patching is to be done - key upgrades, discounts etc
As long as it's fully transparent, most don't care (Score:2)
What I would do is this: Have your software, upon installation, create a keyfile. This file can be saved and, should a reinstall be necessary, be reapplied to the software. That way, you can requrest that your user enters a few key informations about himself upon installation, even a lot, because he will only do it a single time. This keyfile can th
Let some fall through the cracks (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't apply macro-laws (movement of fluids) to micro situations (individual molecules in a fluid). Focus on the macro violations-- widespread corporate use without a license-- but let the little people slip through the cracks. Those of us who install and forget, and never really get much use out of the program anyway, are very unlikely to buy the program in the first place.
Explaining to people how to pirate but appealing to their goodwill might go a little far, though. I would report only the serial numbers used in the registration, along with the IP address that contacts your server (not the IP address of the machine itself). The rest of the information is None Of Your Business (TM). Try to find a happy medium between accepting a couple copied serial numbers in the wild, and noticing that a large number of computers coming from similar IP addresses are using the same serial number.
Definitely do NOT disable the program if it cannot phone home. I *hated* that about Bioshock, when my crappy firewalled network made it almost impossible for me to activate the software. Since you're aiming at corporate networks, you're certain to have lots of people with this problem.
Good luck with it.
PS: What are the current laws on downloading a program and using a serial number to unlock it? We all know that EULAs have yet to be proven in court, with many cases existing that both support and reject EULAs. So is there a clear case where it's illegal to use a serial number to unlock freely given content?
Some ideas (Score:2)
Short and simple, that's it, take it or leave it. If you want copy protection, you must understand that you cannot "hide" it from legal users.
As for the right amount... it all depends on the situation.
Since you are going for businesses which would have multiple installations; make it centralized. Make a small central "activation" server app that all installations contact at some interval and manage all registration from there (just use single multi-seat keys or so
Use nothing, or hardware (Score:2, Insightful)
Very little, but some. (Score:2)
The best example I can think of is Windows Commander ( http://www.ghisler.com/ [ghisler.com] ), which is a program I both use and love. It has a nagware screen each time you start it up, but otherwise functions fully for free. I did actually buy it, as it's a great program, but I found that out by usi
Unnecessary (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Corps want their licence so let them have one (Score:2)
1. Corporations are terrified of the Business Software Alliance.
2. Corporate IT departments have an incentive to search the company for unlicenced software - it gives them something to do. Licence compliance is a nice, simple, easy-to-explain and wonderfully time-consuming activity. It provides a marvellous way for the IT department to justify its own existence and be seen to be busy bees.
So, just let them get on with it. All you have to d
Companies won't use unlicensed software (Score:2)
A few vital pointers (Score:2)
The right amount of copy protection is none (Score:2)
Why is the right amount none? I don't believe that we were unique when (in a past life) on removing copy protection on our software, our sales grew by about 20%.
I think people want to test software before they pay for it, and copy protection stops them from using a try-before-you-buy approach. I think that most people who can afford the software and who think
Don't even bother... (Score:2)
If the piracy community wants your software for free and considers it worth having, then they will have it. You can't do anything about it. Ask Apple or Sony or Microsoft about how much money they spend protecting their software from piracy. Ask the 16 year old kid from New Jersey how many episodes of Pokemon he had to miss to destroy t
Unrealistic expectations (Score:5, Insightful)
This will not happen. Cracks for very heavy-handed measures will be available to exactly the same people in exactly the same ways as a cracks for a simple serial-number check on installation, ergo a simple serial-check will get you 99.9% effectiveness of any other software system.
The only things I have seen that seem to work are the hardware usb-dongles; the earlier ones were cracked but the new versions seem to be quite safe. (but they cause a number of other issues and don't qualify as non-intrusive).
I once had a great message... (Score:2)
I believe it said something like: "You do not wish to pay me for this software huh? Well, fine. But please then donate some money to UNICEF."
And the software continued to work with that code.
I liked that. Some people can't afford to pay for each bit of software, but still need it. It shouldn't be made easy for those people, but it shouldn't be impossible either. One day they'll pay.
B.
Know thy customer (Score:3, Insightful)
You're writing project management software, so we're probably talking 150-200+ employees. Companies of this size are going to have some sort of security policy in this day and age, and potentially (depending on your market segments) may be on closed (meaning no or extremely limited external internet access) networks.
There's a good chance at the low end of your customer base that they will have some variety of managed software push in place where IT pushes down software and licenses to the workstation users, and it's almost a certainty at the high end of project management using companies (my primary contract fits into this category, and uses centrally managed software).
I'd therefore recommend a model that allows for central licensing, preferably with no need for IT management to install a license server (lower barrier to entry for your application) and does not need to phone home. I'd suggest a license key mechanism with an optional ability for volume licensees to share a single license database via a network connection.
Will it be hacked? Yep, naturally (but you sound like you're clued enough to have worked that out without my help) but you're trying to keep honest people honest here. Let's face it, do you really care if you have one or two users install it for free at home to hone their skills if you just sold 500 licenses to the multinational who employs them?
Large organizations have busy IT depts who appreciate it when software developers make their lives easier. Having an IT dept pushing your software over your competitors can only be perceived as a good thing, so take advantage of it! IT can put up very effective roadblocks if they perceive you as making their life more difficult and impeding things such as system imaging. The last thing you want to be is branded "incompatible with our environment" by your customer's IT dept.
Cheers,
Minupla
"Appropriate"...? (Score:2)
Define 'appropriate', and you will have your answer immediately.
If you want to maximize immediate profits at all costs, use the most powerful copy-protection you can - phoning home, disabling suspect keys even at the cost of inconveniencing paying users, etc. etc.
If you believe the project has long-term possibilities, then you need to start worrying about pissing people off. Don't phone home. Minimal product activation once at installation.
If you believe th
FLexlm (Score:3, Informative)
Too good to be true (Score:2)
No copy protection is good copy protection (Score:2)
Oracle lets you download much of their softwa
What to remember (Score:2, Interesting)
"Thieves don't buy"
Software thieves will not pay for your software, no matter how much you lock it up. If they can't get a cracked copy or code, 99.44% of them won't use it. It doesn't matter if they still live with their parents, or are the CEO of a big company; thieves don't buy.
Thus, you must tailor your strategy towards supporting your non-thief customers, while minimizing the parasitic cost of the
There's always a faster gun (Score:2)
How important is your software? (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Install keys are a pain, but we're all used to them now and we accept them. Very few users send the software back or refuse to upgrade just because of install keys.
2. Phone home activation is a bigger pain. It gives you some control but can cause headaches for the customers IT dept. It can also make cracked versions more appealing, and makes non-internet connected computers impossible to activate. In general though, it is acceptable if its a once only affair. However, regular phone-home checks are more than enough to sway the purchasing decision against your product.
3. Locally installed license servers can be a pain, but they offer both you and the end user complete control over whats going on. They do represent an initial setup hurdle, but after that they offer considerable flexibility in that the end user can install your software on all the computers on their system and then there is a limit applied on how many clients can run at any one time. Your customer can then buy a small number of licenses and upgrade to more if necessary. Obviously this still needs the customer to have a decent internal network, but not necessarily internet connected, which is an issue in some places.
4. Hardware dongles are just a menace and a guaranteed way to drive your customers away.
At the end of the day i think you need to evaluate how important your software is to your customer. If its critical, and they have no alternative, then you have the option of going the Microsoft route and pissing them off as much as you like cos they need you more than you need them. This may come back to bite you in the arse.
If your software has little or no value to the home user (i.e. they have no use for or it or wouldn't pay for it anyway) then you can probably get away with just a license key activation cos business customers tend to be a little more honest by nature. This also makes your product appealing to small companies cos they can buy one license (so they feel honest) and use it on 3 or 4 computers. This *is* technically "stealing", but you've still sold one more copy than you might have done.
If you really want to have total control, and you think your customers will accept it, then the license server is a good choice. Your sales people should be able to dress it up as a convenient way for the IT staff to manage their licenses and if some sort of phone home is needed then only one hole needs to be drilled through the firewall. In future revisions you could also expand its role into an update server or something.
It is possible to do some mix and match. For instance, Intel distribute the free versions of their C++ and Fortran compilers with both a phone home activation code AND a license key file. I find this to be quite convenient (though admittedly it doesn't stop the software being replicated across several machines). You could for instance sell single or double licenses to small companies (in the expectation that they will use it on more than one or two computers) and sell license servers to larger companies (who might be more strict about license accounting). This sort of flexibility (not adopting a one size fits all approach) would reduce the chances alienating whole segments of potential customers.
So in summary, you are selling a product and that product has to be acceptable to your potential customers. If its not, they won't buy. Consider your target market and implement your controls accordingly. And if you can afford it, don't be afraid to offer flexibility in the licensing systems.
gentle reminders (Score:4, Informative)
Devon
Camorra Hit Team, DIY Sniping/booby-trapping (Score:2)
Maybe you want to try it yourself. The Steyr AUG Sniper Rifles are good for this sort of job, but you can resort to a bomb under the c
Seattle City Light (Score:2)
Your corporate customers will, on the whole, pay for your software.
You're wasting your time coding vs. the miscreants, why are people so perpetually clueless about this?
Wheee, my first slashdot article! (Score:4, Informative)
1) Upon purchase, user gets a license key.
2) When installing, the software generates a random (somewhat) unique installation id
3) The license key is checked locally, with no net connection required.
3) Upon app startup, if there's an internet connection, the software phones home with the software version, the license key, and the installation ID
The phone-home also gives a version-check to let the user know about any updates.
4) We log the license key and installation ID
Someday, we do some data analysis and find any license keys with a large number (maybe 5, maybe dozens, not sure) of installation ID's. The data analysis should look for interwoven log records of installation ID, because the user might have uninstalled it on one machine, and installed it on another. Then a person (not automated process) would get a report and be able to investigate and flag certain keys as compromised.
What happens next?
Do we cause the software to stop functioning? (I don't like that)
Do we cause the web service-portion to stop functioning? (I don't like that either)
Do we pop up a window saying, "SOFTWARE PIRACY DETECTED!! YOU ARE GOING TO JAIL IF YOU DON'T STOP!"
Do we pop up a window saying, "Hey, this might be pirated. Go to http://xxxxx/ [xxxxx] to purchase additional copies"
Maybe the software does nothing, and we deal with it through customer support. A friendly email to the original purchase agent?
I guess the goal is make honest people stay honest. As many have pointed out, it will be impossible to prevent someone who REALLY wants to pirate the software.
Speaking as an IT Director (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What's the Right Amount of Copy Protection? (Score:5, Insightful)
Speaking as a very successful vendor: None. (Score:5, Insightful)
A much better question is, how can we maximize the rewards to our paying customers for providing us with the income we need to pursue our chosen path of software development?
The answers are:
You know the people who will insist on paying you when you mom their lawn, carry groceries, etc.? Those are the socialized, economically stable majority. They'll pay for good stuff as long as you price it sensibly and shovel value at them like it is going out of style (it actually seems to be in some cases, so use that instead of being part of it.) There is simply no need to go to war with everyone else - be a leg up instead of an obstacle to overcome.
I've done extremely well using this approach, as have my loyal employees. The only thing I would raise a flag about is you actually have to have something worthwhile; if you hand customers (and non-customers) bloated, cpu-hogging bugware, no amount of good will can counter the negative effects of the software itself.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well done.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
How about you price it based on it's value, not the size of the market? Just because the market is small, that does not make your software more valuable. Just because the market is small, it doesn't mean you should try to gouge your customers. It only takes one good competitor to destroy you. I would say, "Price software reasonably and competitively regardless of market size". Get rich by making and selling a good produc
Re:What's the Right Amount of Copy Protection? (Score:5, Insightful)
You will not get a sensible answer here on slashdot, as this post above me clearly illustrates. there are far too many people in the "stick it to the man!, lets torrent everything!, all software should be free!, information wants to be free! MAFIAAAAA! is dinner ready yet mom?" crowd on here.
Yes, copy protection will annoy a small fraction of legit customers.
Tough.
That's the price of doing business. Do security guards irritate people in shops? does having to get a security tag taken off clothes at the till slow down the sale and irritate the end user? We get sued to a small amount of hassle in return for businesses preventing casual theft in the real world, the software world should be no different. I'd like to see most of the anti-DRM people on here try to extend your theories to the meatspace world. Try leaving the right money on the counter and walking out of a store next time you go shopping, after all, that guy at the till is just an irritating bit of theft prevention in this case isn't he?
As for this lunacy that you should make it free and charge for support, that gives you zero incentive to ship a bug-free product, and makes you a wage slave again rather than a creator of new products.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Wrong, everyone has the right to protect something that they've worked hard on. What if the product you made was your only source of income and no-one bought it but everyone had a copy of it? You'd do whatever you could to protect your livelihood.
Get out of your fucking tree, cut your hair and get a job.
Re: (Score:2)
Close answer. It should be the same as a newspaper or magazine. It should be cheaper to simply buy your own copy than the time and effort requried to rip, crack and burn a duplicate. You can do a copyright violation on an entire newspaper. What's stopping you? Other items with artificial high prices and low manufacturing (duplication) costs are the most pirated items. Low cost items are rarely duplicated.
You could ask you neighbor to videotape the season of (name your show) so you don't have to p
Re:Give it away for free (Score:5, Interesting)
The fact is most companies will not make tons of money on support. If people are not willing to pay for the software up front, they are not willing to pay for support. I will take my former employer as an example. They purchased one copy of RHEL and had a support contract in place for that one copy. They installed it on over 200 machines.
My current company charges $100 per agent and $20 per agent/year for support. We often get requests from people asking if we have a free or open source version. We have had people make comments that they would gladly pay for support if we had a free version. Based on experience, that is a lie and these people want something for nothing. We have business expenses to cover and cannot rely on support fees that may not show up.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)