David Brennan asked about what is essentially copy protection:
> Has anyone considered this issue before? Is there a way of
> encrypting the keys in the executable so that they are harder
> to obtain or does Delphi make it hard enough as it is? Or is
> there a better tool than OnGuard out there?
We have hashed this over on the list before and there are a bunch of
issues that alwats get raised I'll summarise for you now:
1. A good hacker can defeat virtually any copy protection system given
enough time.
2. The number of good hackers that can be bothered hacking your product
will vary inversly on the product of the popularity and cost of the
product.
3. Anything that makes it harder, to take longer and compilicates a
hackers job will discourage more of the less talented and raise the bar to
the hack.
4. Any popular off the self copy protection probably already has a generic
hack or key generator available.
5. Any non popular copy protection may not be very good protection at all.
So as you can see this is an area fraught with issues. Ultimately you have
to ask your self are you selling the product, or are you selling the
product PLUS your support services. Any reputable business is not going to
copy your product willy nilly because they are going to find themselves
FUBARed for support when you find out. And any sufficiently complicated
product will require support during its lifetime.
But no matter what you do, don't make it hard for your users as that will
only encourage them to find another vendor later on.
Cheers, Max.
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