Mailing List AE-List@media-motion.tv ? Message #50581
From: Steve Oakley <steveo@practicali.com>
Subject: Re: [AE] USA and the emerging 'Software Piracy Gap'!!
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 14:09:07 -0500
To: After Effects Mail List <AE-List@media-motion.tv>
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adobe's activation was cracked rather easily for CS5-6. generally speaking copy protection only inconveniences the legit users since users of cracked versions have bypassed it. at one point, I had $25K worth of USB dongles on my keychain. not fun to think of loosing that. those can be cracked too. on the extreme, there was a serial number generator for combustion 3 floating around back in the day. so in the end its generally a waste of resources... user education that you should pay for what use.

 oh, and netlfix ? there are a lot of mov's they don't have which is a driving force in people simply wanting something and getting it anyway they can. if the only place a film you want to see is torrented.... perhaps the studios should just get better at licensing more of their content so its available. better to make something rather than nothing.

S

On Aug 23, 2013, at 1:50 PM, Jim Tierney <jim@digitalanarchy.com> wrote:

>> but doesnt the responsibility to protect the software lie with the developer?... If it is too hard to crack people will just give up and buy it? Right? Maybe? 
 

No… it just becomes a bigger challenge and more props to the first one that can do it.

When I was at Atomic Power, we spent close to two months of engineering on the copy protection. It was cracked within two weeks. By and large, copy protection is a waste of engineering resources. You have to have something, but there is nothing that is ‘too hard to crack’. And usually the robust systems become a pain for paying users… dongles anyone?

>> I have to say that I think Adobe's method of business with creative cloud is the best idea so far. Make the purchase price of your product more attainable at a longer stretch profit and more people will be inclined to purchase.

Given that they’re giving away a year of CC to people that attend certain conferences, I have doubts that this is currently working out great for them. There are also a significant number of users that are REALLY hostile to the idea, since for some users the CC is a significant price increase. It is definitely not cheaper for people that only upgrade every three versions. Pissing off your existing customers is a questionable strategy. Long term it’ll probably work out for them, but right now, who knows.

For professional products, there are the folks that are willing to pay for the software and then there are folks that won’t pay for it. There are very few that fall into the ‘I’m going to pirate this, but if it was cheaper I’d pay for it’ category. Most software companies do sales on a regular enough basis that if price is your main concern, just wait a few months and you’ll get a deal.

As a software developer, it is disappointing when studios and people making money with your software choose to steal it (or use outsourced labor that they know is not paying for it). Particularly when these same folks would be up in arms if anyone used some of their creative work without their permission or paying for it. Karma can be a bitch though (or so I hope).

Anyways, all of us software developers greatly appreciate those of you who do pay. Hopefully we can continue supporting you guys doing amazing work.


 
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