What's the Right Amount of Copy Protection?

WPIDalamar writes "I'm currently working on a piece of commercial software that will be available through a download and will use a license key to activate it. The software is aimed at helping people schedule projects and will be targeted mostly to corporate users. With the recent Windows Vista black screen of death, it got me thinking about what sort of measures I should go through to prevent unauthorized users from using the software. While I don't wish to burden legitimate users, I do want to prevent most piracy. How much copy protection is appropriate? Is it acceptable for the software to phone home? If so, what data is appropriate to report on? The license key? Software version? What about a unique installation ID? Should I disable license keys for small amounts of piracy, like when there's 3 active installations of the software? What about widespread piracy where we detect dozens or hundreds of uses of the same license key? Would a simple message stating the software may be pirated with instructions on how to purchase a valid license be sufficient?"

Comments

Re:Not strictly true

[cliffski]

oh dear, you again.

face facts, you think all software should be free and have fuck all respect for people who would make a business out of writing high quality software.

Businesses cannot function in the face of such retardedness, which is why they tend to make software that's not aimed at people like you, because you never pay for it.
One day when you leave mommys basement and have to get a job you will realise that most people consider it reasonable to pay for the hard work of others.