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TransGaming Tagging Downloads to Combat Piracy
SeanTobin writes "It seems that TransGaming is implementing a new watermarking system to combat piracy. For now it seems that every tgz of Cedega 4.0.1 is individually tagged, and this has been frustrating Gentoo users who (like many others) like to be sure their archives are unmodified. Is this the future of software downloads? Is this tiny loss of personal privacy worth the increase in TransGaming's security?" Update: 08/16 17:42 GMT by S : There's an official response on the TransGaming forums indicating: "We can confirm that Cedega 4.0.1 included some basic watermarking... The objective behind the watermarking was to deal with some peer-to-peer piracy issues that we've been seeing over the past several months... We have suspended the watermarking feature for now and Gentoo users no longer need to be concerned with work-arounds."
If Microsoft or any other big company did something remotely similar to this I imagine that there would be a HUGE uproar but just because they're open source and support Linux do they get special treatment? It seems rather pointless to me considering if you really wanted the build you could just build it from CVS so if anything this is just giving them bad MSlike publicity.
To all developers and software "manufacturers": get your heads out of your behinds and smell the fresh air to get some oxygen in your brains.
The model of selling software for mass market consumption is dead. Finito, Kaputt. Only a handful of companies are making money selling software to the masses (there are many companies ut ther making money of selling niche software, but popular software is different).
Popular software will be pirated. Period. I don't like it, I don't condone it but it is like if I was a zebra complaining abut lions having a meal on my cousing or brother. It sucks but it is the way it is.
Your options? Services. Yeah, I know, the S word shows its ugly head again. Your software is just the honey to attract consumers to your real business: merchandise, community servers, new or extended features (that may your product niche or multiniche).
Or media hype (which most companies can't afford) so you generate high expectations and do your sale in the first week after release of your product. Pretty much like blockbuster moves.
Stop trying to commercialize thoughts (software is just that) and ideas. Those are too fluid to be albe ever to pin them down to commercial interests.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.