stopping piracy and establishing trust

i have been thinking of a way to prevent piracy of programs i make and i came up with what I think is a solution that will help not only me but others by stopping piracy and establishing trust. A system simular to code signing but without the big price tag. I am still working on details but input is appriciated, this trust solution could be used to detect counterfiet software, as well it can be used to identify a small software publisher as a "trustable" source for honest software which is spyware/virus free.

[524 byte] By [RyanB88] at [2007-12-27]

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# 1

Unfortunately I think piracy is going to continue to occur for as long as software prices are outside the realm of what people feel is reasonable. $200 for a copy of Office? That may not be much for a business, but for a home user (especially one who's just spent $150 for a copy of Windows XP to get his $400 computer running) who only needs Word for occasional document editing and only uses Excel to keep a monthly budget, it's excessive.

I'm not arguing that software is overpriced -- I'm just saying that as long as public perception is that it's overpriced, people will continue to use pirated software.

Any information you'd care to share about your solution?

duckthing at 2007-9-4 >

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# 2

Well piracy is going to stop only when the MS tries to reduce the price of their s/w especially their OSs. Windows Vista is going to hit the markets in 2007 and if piracy has to be stopped then its price must be made affordable to every individual.No body is going to buy a OS for 300$ when other free OSs and pirated copies are present in the market.

In case of MS, Well I think that instead of validating every copy of MS Product it would be better if there be a mechanism which will have direct contact b/w the user and MS for activation.

DeepakKrishnan at 2007-9-4 >

# 3

Thoughts about your idea,

Every day in the web, which covers the whole world exactly; we are welcoming the people who really wish to do something useful for the all about computing or anything. And also there are people who do not care about anything. So, there will always be the people who use the pirated softwares. We cannot stop that as one user said before.

Reducto at 2007-9-4 >

# 4

well solution isn't going to stop it entirely, nothing will. Also this won't stop "casual copying" this is more of a solution to help people identify counterfeit software before even installing it. I will hope to release some details soon as the specifics of how it works get determains as for now i got the "big picture" of it and am working on specific details. Essentially though this will be a system built into install routines so if anyone has an installation system they sell and want to incorporate this method llet me know, but also as of now it looks as if an internet connection may be needed for this to work, but then again with vista comming out, it probably will be highly expectant of a broadband connection anyway.

RyanB88 at 2007-9-4 >

# 5

Just make sure it is not like Star Force that ends up making legal copy un-useable. It really sucks when I buy a legal copy a game and end up unable to play it because piracy protection software is picky about CD-Roms, even new Sony CD-roms fails. And while seeing people can play illegal version without problem really pissed me off.

I think the better way is to provide online update service and doing the license check at same time.

magicalclick at 2007-9-4 >

# 6

Piracy can't be stopped unless you find a surefire way. (which there really isn't) There isn't any software that can't be cracked. Even if it is $10 software, I guarantee it would still be pirated, because it would be cheaper for the cracker to buy and experiment on until they found a way to do it.

GreatFox at 2007-9-4 >

# 7

Why bother trying to stop it? Encouraging people to pay for software is the right way to go.

You can apply the same logic used on MP3s to this question. As a software developer, would you rather have someone using your package (for free) or not using it at all?

ShaunMorgan at 2007-9-4 >

# 8

As a developer I would rather have them not use it at all. If I make some software I will expect those who want to use it to pay what I ask. Maybe there is many that just want to use a few features of what my software offers and that could lead to that I make a lighter version that is priced more in line what they are prepared to pay for those features.

Downloads isn't where money are lost, it is when a pirate can sell pirated goods in place of the original.

AndreasJohansson at 2007-9-4 >

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