Ed,
Well, I've gotten lots of repeat business from businesses and from
individual users. More often than not, they purchase 1 copy initially, then
a few days later, they purchase more copies. I'm guessing that they want to
purchase one copy and put it on all of their palms, only to find that they
can't. (There are a fair number of couples who both have Palms, I've
found.) Perhaps I'm wrong in my guess, though... Perhaps they were buying
one copy, then showed it to the other palm owners in the office/home and
went back to get more copies...
It's not that I'm trying to squeeze as much money as possible from
everyone. I figure that I priced my program at such a reasonable level that
everyone should have no reason not to purchase a copy for each palm they put
it on. (only $8.00 a copy, currently, but I'm thinking of changing it).
Perhaps I could move to a slightly higher price and change the registration
method to a demo/full version method.
The main problem I see with the demo/full version method is that it
would be so easy to have someone buy it and put it up for download. Yea, I
understand that the purchaser would most likely not want to put it up for
everyone to get for free, but it would only take one "bad apple".
The other part of the equation is this: Is it even anything I should
be worried about? I mean, the average customer isn't going to surf around
for hours to find a specific palm application for free, especially when it
only costs $8.00, is he? I'm thinking that the kind of person who would do
that, would probably not pay for it no matter how low the cost was.
Is Palmgear still actively seeking out these sites and trying to shut
them down?
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "M. Edward Wilborne III" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Palm Developer Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2000 7:02 PM
Subject: Re: Better hack protection mechanisms?
> Paul,
>
> I do the separate demo and registered version thing. The question you
have
> to ask using this method is "who do you trust"? A user who is going to
pay
> for the app, who might give it a way, or some anonymous hacker that will
> make a free key generator available?
>
> I take the stand that the customer is going to do the right thing. They
> did, after all, pay for the app.
>
> The hacker could care less, and the hacking and thrill of producing a key
> generator is part of the motivator behind doing it.
>
> I haven't found a registered version of my applications flying around on
FTP
> sites... That doesn't mean that they don't exist, they certainly could.
> However, I don't have any of the overhead of worrying about key generating
> when someone registers, or if anyone hacks it coming up with a new
> generator.
>
> A simple compile time switch lets me create the demo or registered version
> from the same source. So I've found for my applications and for
> distribution that doesn't penalize a user when they upgrade to a new
device
> or get married changing their hotsync name that this is the best approach
> for me.
>
> Ed
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Palm Developer Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2000 4:51 PM
> Subject: Better hack protection mechanisms?
>
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have just been informed that there's a key generator available for
> my
> > application and was wondering if there were any better mechanisms out
> there
> > for registration.
> >
> > Currently, I'm generating a RegCode based on the Palm User Name and
> > using that to generate an unlock key. The user enters in the Unlock key
> > that I email to him and presto, it's registered. I could change my
> formula
> > for generating the key, but that would probably be cracked in, oh, about
5
> > minutes. I understand that the unlock key mechanism isn't very safe,
> since
> > everything needed to crack it is actually included in the application.
It
> > doesn't take a very skilled hacker to crack.. Or, I wouldn't think it
> > would...
> >
> > Having a separate demo version and registered version seems even
more
> > unsafe, since the registered version would probably make it up on some
ftp
> > site within a few days of release.
> >
> > Is there anything else that can be done?
> >
> > I know that Aaron Ardiri has done lots of work in this area, and I
> > remember reading some time ago that he was going to write up a paper on
> how
> > to make it more difficult for the hackers. Has he released that
anywhere?
> > (Possibly privately to other "known" developers?)
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
> > --
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> please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/support/forums/
> >
>
>
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