Hi to all: I agree completely with Jim, N4AL. We all lose by software piracy and end up paying more. But it is worth not having all the hassle.
" I understand Courtney's and Joe's positions on the piracy issue. We all > lose from piracy because it discourages the development of new software > and makes software more expensive for paying users. But small vendors > cannot ignore competition as Microsoft has done. Making software more > difficult to use is NOT a solution for them." By the way, even "Mighty Microsoft" had to back off of their latest software ristriction scheme. Customers just won't stand for it. They'll go to a competitor that doesn't do it. DXbase is a fabulous program. Just "Don't make the software harder to use by your customers." Can you imagine how many more customer questions Jack and Courtney will have to handle if they make the software more difficult for their customers!!!!! Tom, N0YD --- Jim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > If Scientific Solutions does Joe's #1 (allow installation only on one > machine), they will lose me as a customer. Carl N4PY did this with his > Ten Tec Pegasus software, so I have quit using his upgrades. I am > constantly modifying and upgrading my computers, and I am not going to > contend with permissions from multiple vendors to reinstall. (Whether > the software is provided on a CD or by a download doesn't matter. I can > copy the download to a CD.) > > Microsoft may succeed at this with Windows XP because they have a > near-monopoly on operating systems. Independent software vendors will > not. When small vendors make application software more difficult to use, > users will just change to another vendor. > > Do you remember when software was sold on diskettes that could only be > installed on one machine? Customers forced vendors to stop that > practice. Restricting downloads to only one machine is no different. It > won't last, IMHO. > > I understand Courtney's and Joe's positions on the piracy issue. We all > lose from piracy because it discourages the development of new software > and makes software more expensive for paying users. But small vendors > cannot ignore competition as Microsoft has done. Making software more > difficult to use is not a solution for them. > > Jim N4AL > > Joe Glockner wrote: > > >Jack, > > > >I saw Courtney's earlier post that mentioned the software piracy of > >DXbase issue. It really burns my xxx that we have thieves out there and > >while I know it's costly to prosecute, I think you ought to go after > >anyone once you have the evidence needed. I've heard of some attorney's > >who will do this pro-bono as well. Think they are funded by the > >Software Piracy Association. > > > >Anyway, if it were my business, I would take whatever steps you can to > >help reduce this. It occurs to me that as long as you distribute the > >software on disks or CDs, that the thieves are going to steal it. So > >seems to me that as a first step, you gotta stop sending it out on CD. > >There are some pretty good encryption packages out there that allow > >people to download and install from the web. I know some of them have > >been cracked, but usually they got cracked because the encryption wasn't > >implemented as well as it could have been. They usually come in two > >flavors: > > > >1. User can download and install but it will only run on the machine > >that they install it to. Much like Microsoft XP where it is tied to > >hardware and that's that. If user changes major hardware, then they > >gotta re-register. Perhaps you could allow a user to run on up to two > >machines for one fee, and an additional fee for more than two machines. > >Just because someone owns 71 machines doesn't mean they gotta run DXbase > >on each one of them... hihi... > > > >2. User can download crippled version and must get a key from you to > >unlock all the features. This helps some, but then somebody could just > >give the key away to their buddies and your back to having the thieves > >steal your work. > > > >In either of these cases, users can download it as often as they want > >without additional charge as long as they are registered. > > > >There may be some good reason for objecting to either of the above, but > >I can't think of any unless you are the pirate trying to insure that you > >can continue to pirate somebody else's work. Again, if it was me, I'd > >go with option 1 and let the thieves start spending their money for > >DXbase or else go steal someone else's product. > > > >Just my two cents worth of opinion. > > > >By the way, I also saw the comments about dropping upgrade support for > >old database formats. It never occured to me but I like this idea too. > >If someone opts to skip upgrades, then it's only fair that they pay the > >additional cost for their decision. Why should I pay ( indirectly ) for > >someone else's decision. I say, support importing from only the > >previous version and if somebody needs support for older versions, then > >sell them the conversion package. I can't imagine why somebody would > >skip any of the last few upgrades anyway. They were crammed with lots > >of nice improvements and well worth the few dollars to upgrade. Just > >doesn't make sense, but oh well. > > > >de Joe WA6AXE > >_______________________________________________ > >DXBase Reflector - Please visit us on the web at www.dxbase.com > >- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > >To UNSUBSCRIBE please visit: > >http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > DXBase Reflector - Please visit us on the web at www.dxbase.com > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > To UNSUBSCRIBE please visit: > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
