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Ask Slashdot: Copy Protection Advice For ~$10k Software?
An anonymous reader writes I'm part owner of a relatively small video editing software company. We're not yet profitable, and our stuff turned up on thePirateBay recently. Some of our potential paying customers are using it without paying, and some non-potential customers are using it without paying. Our copy protection isn't that tough to crack, and I'd rather see the developers working on the product than the DRM (I'm convinced any sufficiently desirable digital widget will get copied without authorization). Would it be insane to release a 'not for commercial use' copy that does some spying and reporting on you, along with a spy-free version for ~$10,000? I feel like that would reduce the incentive to crack the paid version, and legit businesses (In the US anyway but we're trying to sell everywhere) would generally pay and maybe we could identify some of the people using it to make money without paying us (and then sue the one with the biggest pockets). What would you do?"
No, you paid for software which does these very reasonable online checks in a very stupid way. Once every 30 days is plenty for an app like this, with no online functionality. Offer an offline authentication too, a challenge-response like Windows Activation.
Your issues with this one piece of software do not reflect my own anecdotal experiences. Then again, I don't buy software with shitty DRM schemes; They get left by the wayside and forgotten while my money goes to a competitor.
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