> 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.
It seems to me the problem is not people surfing around to "underground"
ftp sites, I'm more worried about the fact that our software gets posted
to perfectly legitimate sites without our knowledge, and has even found
its way onto various CDs distributed with books and such. Most of the
time the latter is with our knowledge and permission, but it has occured
without either as well. Now what would happen if the full version of the
software ended up in such a place, either on a perfectly legitimate site
or on some CD? The kind of user now using the software wouldn't be some
hacker out to get something for nothing and who probably wouldn't have
bought the software anyway; instead, they will be a perfectly normal,
honest person who has now been misled into thinking this software is
freeware.
On the other hand, there IS most assuredly a cost in administering serial
number schemes, so one is left with the eternal balancing question - does
it cost more to administer a serial number scheme than one would lose by
having no serial numbers? Until now our answer has been to stick with
serial numbers, but I admit it is not necessarily a clear-cut decision.
Steve Patt
President, Stevens Creek Software
http://www.stevenscreek.com/palm
Best PQA ("ePQA"), PalmSource 99
Best Application ("PizzaScan"), Palm Developer's Conference 1998
First printing software for the Palm - September, 1997
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