Most of my apps are casino-type games. My first app was shareware that
relied on the honesty of users to send in the money. I got such a low
pay-rate that on all of my others I crippled the ability to buy more chips
(after the initial bankroll runs out) until the registration code is
entered. These apps have been infinitely more successful than the original
app, outselling it by a margin of 30 to 1 or more. Although I believe that
most people are honest, I don't believe that most people will go through the
trouble of paying if they don't have to.
Mike Walters
Rose Software
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Bradly
J. Barton
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 10:12 AM
To: Palm Developer Forum
Subject: Re: Better hack protection mechanisms?
From: "Dave Lippincott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Locks only keep honest people honest.
I took an even more extreme view of this, the wisdom of which could be
debated, I'm sure. My shareware app is fully functional, the RegCode lock
simply turns off the occasional reminder to register. My thoughts were that
for a $7.95 application, anyone who was too cheap to buy it wouldn't be any
more inclined to do so just because it was crippled... and I ran the risk of
driving off people who actually would buy it.
The question you have to ask yourself is: "Is it worth irritating my user
base that actually wants to pay for a quality product just so I can keep a
few deadbeats from using it without paying?" When you consider that those
few deadbeats probably wouldn't pay for it anyway, they'd come up with a way
around it or not use it, my personal answer was "no".
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