software piracy (was "Interactive and me")

[Rick Richardson]

In article <1990Jul13.231942.14009 at ico.isc.com> rcd at ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn) writes:
>I find this attitude very unsettling.  I don't believe the "ethics and
>morals" of the software community are any better or worse than the world at
>large.

They may even be a shade better.  The problem is, its too damn easy
to make copies.  It is almost like an attractive nuisance, or entrapment.
Activation codes that come with the software don't make it any harder.

>That's an interesting question, but perhaps we should back up a bit and get
>some background information:
>	- What is the level of "software pirating"?  Sure, it happens...
>	  but how much?

Its almost impossible to tell.  The only way we know it is when
somebody calls up for support and we haven't got a record of the
purchase (either direct or thru a reseller).

Believe it or not, this happens to us fairly regularly.  And, I'm not
including those that claim they are 'test driving'.

sales * illegal_copy_ratio * stupidity_ratio = unreg_support_calls

We know sales and unreg_support_calls, but I don't know what the
stupidity_ratio is (the chance that a person with an illegal copy
is going to call for support), so I can't figure illegal_copy_ratio.
In *our experience*, the formula boils down to:

	illegal_copy_ratio = .013 / stupidity_ratio

E.G. if 1 out of 10 are stupid enough to call for support, then the
illegal_copy_ratio is 13 illegal copies in use for every 100 sold.
If 1 out of 100 are stupid enough to call for support, then the
illegal_copy_ratio is 130 illegal copies in use for every 100 sold.

>	- What are the most common forms of pirating?  E.g., is it single
>	  system, installed once then given to a friend?  Single license
>	  used on multiple machines in a company?  Resellers copying
>	  systems and selling black-market copies as if they were
>	  originals?

Yes.  We've gotten all of those.  No stats, though.  I'll try to
record them over the next year.  It may take that long to get a
good enough sample population.  A company with larger monthly sales
than ours and who keeps better records may be able to give you these
sooner numbers.

You can cut the friend-friend illegal copies with uncopiable media,
such as CD-ROM (for all practical purposes uncopiable), and copy
protected disks.  I think friend-friend copying is the primary mode
in games, which explains why disk copy protection is still popular
with games manufacturers.

For the other modes, you need to give people compelling reasons
to buy.  Such as good and hefty docs, and good support.

For UNIX vendors, the widely available P-H docs have just about
killed any chance to do it with documentation.  That leaves support.
Support issues, of course, are currently being discussed in this group
in a different thread.

Alternatively, and I think something that could work, could be
a common authorization center used and funded by all software
vendors.  Open 24 hours, with an 800 number that is rarely busy.
When the User installs the software, he gets an authorization
request number based on the serial number, but permuted randomly.
A quick (< 5 minute) call to the center gets you the authorization
reply.  You give them the request number, name, address, and phone.
They give you the reply number (possibly by a return call to
the phone number given).  The center *never* refuses an
authorization request.

Cost to the vendor, maybe $1 per authorization.  You may still
get illegal authorizations, but at least now there's an audit
trail.  The vendor gets a periodic report for his authorizations.
Seing that serial number 143265 has been authorized an abnormal
number of times to a number of different people, he may want to
initiate an investigation.

The vendor is in complete control of how to use authorization
replies.  For example, he might allow the reply to work only
with a specific request number, or for any request number
generated in a one-day period.  This second alternative is
useful in case the user is having trouble getting the package
installed.

The user cost is the time to make the telephone call.  Presumably,
if the software costs less because of the authorization, the user
will be happy, too.  Assume the manufacturer has good reason
to believe that 1 illegal copy is in use for every 1 copy sold
of a $500 package.  He adds this authorization scheme and charges
(say) $350 for the new package.  User saves $150, and vendor
makes an additional $200.  There is an assumption here that the
illegal user won't 'do without', but the lower price is an
additional inducement to purchase, for both the illegal user
and additional legal users.

[ Long-Posting-Obligatory-Humor follows for those that read this far ]

There's another scenario possible.  By law, all software is free
and all you sell is support.  So you make damn sure your product
is at least as buggy as the other guys, so people will want to
buy *your* support.  Revision numbers start at 99.99 and go
backwards, as each vendor tries to outdo the other in number of
bugs.  Manuals become vanishingly thin, thus prompting those
money-making support questions, and saving trees (an environmentally
aware marketing ploy).  Apple goes out of business, because the
Mac is too damned easy to use and they have no expertise at
all in making cryptic command line interfaces.  On the plus side,
sales of UNIX support (sans GUI) is tremendous.  And, we're all
running V6 again.  Double-meta-wacky-cokebottle-smiley goes here.

-Rick

-- 
Rick Richardson | Looking for FAX software for UNIX/386 ??? Ask About: |Mention
PC Research,Inc.| FaxiX - UNIX Facsimile System (tm)                   |FAX# for
uunet!pcrat!rick| FaxJet - HP LJ PCL to FAX (Send WP,Word,Pagemaker...)|Sample
(201) 389-8963  | JetRoff - troff postprocessor for HP LaserJet and FAX|Output