Paul,
Please see below...
Thanks!
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Palm Developer Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2000 7:41 PM
Subject: Re: Better hack protection mechanisms?
> 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...
>
Like I said, there are disadvantages to not using some sort of registration
code. So, it's possible that one person in a group would register the
software and then share it among their associates/friends. I think people
of good conscience are going to pay for it if they use it. People who are
going to steal your work, are going to steal your work... that is a hard
thing to prevent--I try to keep people from stealing my work by making the
registration price low. ($9.95 in my case).
Of course, the market I write for is much smaller than others... My work is
in the astronomy arena. ( So not many people want that stuff anyway :)
> 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.
I believe the average user, based on my experience (my full time job is Dir.
of Info. Sys. for an Internet Service Provider) has no real idea how to
search the Internet for information about warez sites for Palm OS apps.
Newsgroups are even hard for the "average" user. It's the advanced or
knowlegeable users that may try to use their skills to get a copy of the
full version of software without paying for it. But like you said, these
people are going to steal it no matter what.
I hate reg codes because: If they are based on my hotsync user name and I
get married and change my name, my program breaks until I get a new reg
code. If it is based on Palm serial #, then if I upgrade or replace my
Palm, I've got to get a new reg code. If my reg code system is hacked, I've
got to generate a new code system, and if I'm lucky, make old codes still
work (wouldn't this defeat the purpose of rewriting the code generating
mechanism), and if you have to give all of your registered users new codes,
WOW what a bunch of work that could be. If you want automatic fulfillment
of your application sales through services like PalmGear, it gets much
harder when the code has to be generated.
Because of this, and the low overhead I want for adminsitering my Internet
based software business, I choose the non reg code approach. I've
registered software that uses reg codes, but I prefer to register software
that is like what I write.
>
> Is Palmgear still actively seeking out these sites and trying to shut
> them down?
If someone did put up a copy of my registered software, it would soon be
"out of date" when the next update came out. And if I found out about a
copy of my registered software being on an FTP site or web site, I would try
to get it taken down from the site.
PalmGear does agressively work to shutdown Palm warez sites but there are
probably some outside of their control although I haven't seen any recently
(but again, I don't try to find them either). I see lots of palm programs
being shared on a palm warez newsgroup... I don't monitor it often, and
I've never seen my software "up for grabs" there.
Sorry to ramble...
Ed
>
> 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
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe,
> > please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/support/forums/
> > >
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
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