On 10 Mar 2005 at 18:06, Johannes Gebauer wrote:

> Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of copyprotection in the
> first place. However, I have to agree with others that the escrow
> system is something no software company with any sense in their brains
> will ever agree to.

I don't see the logic there. Dennis said in his long message that one 
of the problems of the authentication scheme is that all the benefit 
goes to MakeMusic and all of the headaches to the legitimate, 
licensed users. Why would a well-intentioned company be uninterested 
in remedying that imbalance?

Secondly, this kind of thing is much more important for small, niche 
software markets where the companies creating the software are 
already in a precarious position (Coda/MakeMusic has always seemed to 
me to be on the brink of bankruptcy, based on all the financials I've 
ever seen) than it is for large companies in mainstream markets. By 
implementing key escrow, MM would be encouraging long-term commitment 
to its products, because the viability of the manufacturer becomes 
less of a worry. 

It would also be an advantage over Sibelius!

[]

> The idea of asking other people not to upgrade is ridiculous. It's
> like not filling petrol to boycott oil companies. You are hurting
> yourself if anyone.

Well, I will say this: a boycott is of no value if you don't tell the 
company you're boycotting. It would do no good for me to tell MM that 
I'm boycotting them, as I wouldn't have bought either of the last two 
versions of Finale, anyway (I'm not a knee-jerk upgrader). But 
sometime in the next 2 or 3 versions we will get to the point where I 
would normally upgrade (when the accumulated improvements become 
significant enough to attract my $$$) but will choose not to. At that 
point, I will inform MM that I'm not upgrading because of the lack of 
key escrow.

But I'm not the kind of Finale user who has any value in a boycott. 
It's the people who make their living with Finale and who are 
basically forced to upgrade every year who are the ones who would 
have value in withholding their upgrade $$$.

But it seems to me from what's been said on this list that most of 
those are sheep who are meekly accept what's shoved down their 
throats and haven't the backbone to give up short-term satisfaction 
in order to accomplish crucial long-term goals.

-- 
David W. Fenton                        http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
David Fenton Associates                http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale

Reply via email to