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Developer Demands Pirate Bay Not Remove Torrent

Posted by samzenpus on from the please-steal-this-software dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This week TPB got a very unusual e-mail. It was a 'Notice of Ridiculous Activity' from a company that had found one of its apps cracked and listed as a torrent on TPB. The app in question is called Memoires, developed by Coding Robots. Memoires is marketed as the easiest way to keep a journal on your Mac. It costs $29.99 to buy after you've enjoyed a 30-day free trial. That, of course, didn't stop someone from cracking the software and making it available for free as a torrent. Dmitry Chestnykh, founder of Coding Robots, noticed the cracked torrent and decided to download it to see what had been done. After using it, he was upset — not because the cracked version was available, but because the cracker (named Minamoto) had done such a bad job of cracking it. The best section of the e-mail has to be this: 'I demand that you don't remove this torrent, so that people can laugh at Minamoto and CORE skills. However, I also demand the[sic] better crack to be made, so that it doesn't cripple the user experience of my beautiful program.'"

14 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Translation by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Developer Demands Pirate Bay Not Remove Torrent

    Translation:

    Developer Demonstrates Cutting Edge Advertising Techniques

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Probably right, but now I want to buy it just to support that kind of chutzpah (or however you spell that word).

    2. Re:Translation by bhartman34 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The funny thing is, the developer got them to take the torrent down by asking them to keep it up/. :)

    3. Re:Translation by kyrio · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What you describe sounds a lot like a 30 day free trail. If only he had one of those...

    4. Re:Translation by DreamArcher · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Immediately. If you can see something then it's always real. Unless it's on youtube then even if it's real it's fake. However real or fake it's still always gay.

    5. Re:Translation by djdavetrouble · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Somehow this is incredibly deep..

      --
      music lover since 1969
  2. Can't remember who said it first by Pojut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Many people (including myself, hint hint) wish that their work was popular enough to show up on torrent networks.

    You aren't anyone unless your stuff is available in a torrent.

    --
    Living With a Nerd
  3. Yet Another Translation by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Probably right, but now I want to buy it just to support that kind of chutzpah (or however you spell that word).

    Translation:

    Probably right, but now I want to prove that you are right by reinforcing his behavior with cash tendered and also he is badass and I wish to make babies with him.

    Quite the PR campaign a developer started. Good to see small companies stepping it up on all fronts.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  4. Seriously... by mdm-adph · · Score: 3, Insightful

    why _would_ someone include an .exe file for a cracked Mac program? :\

    --
    It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
  5. cakofony by cakofony · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This man just made my day. I'm glad to see he realizes that you can't stop people from moving around data, and he is willing to work with, not against it, in true hacker spirit.

  6. Re:Hats off by BradleyUffner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The pride in his work is admirable. I always appreciate a developer who's concerned about his user experience. This characteristic is, to me, Steve Jobs' most admirable trait (though I think marketing geeks must appreciate his gift for generating interest in his products.) This guy is following Jobs' finest example here.

    I'm left to wonder how he 'discovered' it in the first place...

    A few months ago Dmitry Chestnykh, the founder of Coding Robots and copyright holder of Mémoires, discovered that his program – like many others – was being shared via The Pirate Bay.

    So while he was looking for a cracked Photoshop, for example, he was amazed to see his own stuff up there? It's rather like a priest complaining about poor service from a prostitute, isn't it?

    I do google searches for my name and the names of the program I write all the time. It seems logical to me that he saw his program listed on pirate bay while doing something similar.

  7. burden of proof by digitalsushi · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The ORIGINAL developer has posted more info here!

    i mean, doesnt anyone else agree with me this is pretty crappy journalism?

    --
    slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
  8. Re:Tape in a nutshell by delinear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And yet now, just as back then, the people who trade said copies are the people most passionate about it and who are more likely to buy music. The argument of the big labels is that there's no reason to buy music when an exact digital copy can be had for free - maybe they underestimate the talent of their artists that they could make people want to reward them regardless, or maybe they underestimate the passion of the fans who are more than happy to buy stuff but also like to share music with their friends and hear new stuff for free, but the end result still seems to be that the ones they are most demonising for downloading are their core customers.

  9. Gotta love these /. advertisements by zill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Develop app
    2. Crack the app then distribute it
    3. Send hilarious email to pirate bay
    4. ???
    5. PROFIT!!