Filter: Safe
Filter: Safe | Thu, Apr 23, 3:37 PM CDT

Paranoia or Piracy?

Dec 04, 2005 at 12:00 am by deemarie

Do we have to choose between "Paranoia or Piracy?" I don't think that should be necessary, but it seems in the software industry to be the case. For the record, I am absolutely against any form of software Piracy. The companies have a right to make money. What galls me, though, is when a company's fear of piracy makes it such, that I cannot load and or run a program. From what I have experienced, it appears that some companies think that it is more important to install complicated keys, safe guards, etc., so someone cannot duplicate the program or run it on more than the specified number of machines, even if it creates a hardship for the honest user who has invested his or her money in the purchase of the product. It is even worse when the manufacturer, and I will not name names, refuses to admit there is a problem and will not give support. One well-known manufacturer even went so far as to state that the reason this particular program would not work, could not be the program's fault, and that the solution was to reformat the drive and start all over. A few months later, they admitted it was their fault and offered a patch. Anyway, I'm sure we all have horror stories about programs so well protected that we can hardly use them. The question is, "Is there a middle ground?" I really don't know if we can answer that because we don't know the statistics of which programs are pirated the most; which programs are protected from piracy and yet are user friendly; and whether this protection works at all if someone is serious about reproducing the program to market the pirated copy. I would really like feedback on this issue from you, the Renderosity readersfeedback and not just griping, please. You don't have to answer the following questions; they are there as guides.
  • How much do these safeguards play when you choose a program?
  • How flexible do you feel a company should be on the number of simultaneous installs?
  • Any other feedback such as interesting articles, etc. Looking forward to your comments.
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  • The Paula Sander's Report is a regular Renderosity Front Page featured column, where Paula investigates and comments on graphic software, techniques, and other relevant material through her reviews, tutorials, and general articles.
December 27, 2005
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