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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?"
Well provide the paid version like you do now, and provide a stripped down version that has some really neat features that the pirates who would really want your software would use. There's no form of DRM that will stop anyone from taking it, none. Auth servers? Crackable. Dongles, about 8mins with a soldiering iron. Token keys, same deal, just longer. Rings, yep. And every bit of DRM that you use, will more than likely piss off your paying customer when it breaks the software.
Unique serials do work, especially if they're uniquely identified to who you're selling it to. Then you can at least go after them for copy infringement.
Om, nomnomnom...
Not for commercial use option would allow people to upskill using your product. Some of these guys may end up in the industry you sell to and in taking their skills into that industry raise your products profile. I would think that this is the easist way to become the defacto supplier of niche software. However, spying on these people might turn them away from you.
Can also add in a quick reporting function, and check if the source IP is from a major studio.
Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer, this is not legal advice, but is simply for my own amusement and should not be relied upon.
Well, you certainly won't find a shortage of opinions on Slashdot. :-)
If you think the software is good enough, then a non-commercial version with limited registration information (e-mail, name), and some very privacy-thoughtful reporting (maybe to ensure that the registered serial numbers are only being used by one machine at a time), should only be a good thing. Getting your software into the hands of the people that might buy it will get them used to it, relying on it, and eventually make them customers. But (as others here have posted), don't abuse the "spying"... if you start to make money by pilfering the free registrations for ancillary information you're just going to annoy your users and they'll be more apt to pirate the software or use fake registration information. Giving them something in return, like forum access for very limited support, is helpful.
Other possible models include giving the software for free and asking payment for support -- nearly all profitable Open Source companies do this, and even if you leave the source closed the business model isn't terribly different. You could publish a "crippleware" version, which I find rather annoying, unless the limits are such that the home and non-commercial users needs are really satisfied, and the only people that need to pay $10k for the software are those to whom it's worth it. I give a nice shout out to Andrea Mosaic for doing this correctly (at a lower price point).
Lastly an option you may have missed may be to ignore it because it isn't a problem. A pirated version by a customer that wouldn't have paid anyway probably doesn't hurt you. A pirated version by a customer that would have paid may actually turn into a sale if they need assistance. When you upgrade, if the pirates liked it, they'll want the next version, so they may buy. It may be pirated by employees or students who years later may remember it and decide to buy it. You never can tell.
In those cases, you're getting your software out there and used; you could take an "all exposure is good exposure" attitude. The fact that you didn't list the name of your software in the original post here means that you may not think that way, or you may outright disagree.
Still, piracy is going to happen. At least you're asking the right questions. Don't let yourself get dragged into a fight with the anonymous masses on the internet, though -- you'll probably lose.
To the already great questions above, I would also add:
How will you feel when your product is flagged by Anti-Virus companies as malicious, and what will the impact be to your reputation?
Your flaw is to assume those "pirating" your software are "potential customers". They are not.
That's an incomplete assumption. Some of those who "pirate" the software are potential customers who won't pay $10,000 for the full product in order to use the two or three tools they actually want. These would maybe pay $50 for a basic version (home user), $200 for extended (mom and pop video editing, semi pro) etc. They may also be interested in paying only for certain features as modules instead of certain package types.
Making paying customers out of pirates is about offering a better service. If I can pay for what I want and have it conveniently offered to me, I more than likely will. I won't, however, pay $X,000 for a funky filter effect as (was?) is the way with Photoshop. Then again, Adobe have already said that those using unlicensed copies of Photoshop just lead to companies using PS as the standard because everyone was familiar with it. Guess that could work too.
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A model I can live with is one in which a big watermark is placed over all print, and a pop up is presented occasionally to make the user aware that the copy is not licensed and how to get a license.
Years ago, before the internet was used for verification, I used software in which each copy appeared to be personalized. The company details could not be changed by the end user. Therefore the software could be loaded onto any machine, but it was not practical for another firm to use the software because all prints and interactions wold list the original firms information.
Just some ideas that might not cause the user to hate the software while still providing some incentive to pay for a product that presumable generates profit for a firm.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
And if you use it, USE IT PROPERLY, bake in the encryption into your software so it becomes fiendishly difficult to crack (it will never be impossible.)
You must be new to the internets. The crack will be up on pirate bay (etc etc) by the end of the week. Why waste the time and money on something guaranteed not to work?
Ah HA! What if they go with a hardware dongle and they ship said dongles using a method that takes longer than a week to get there?
Ha! See that? You little internet punks think you're soooooo clever, don't you?
I have downloaded software in the past and many times I didn't think it was worth full asking price but really wished I could give them some money for it. Unfortunately there's no way to do that right now, it's full price or nothing, and it's even worse when the item is no longer sold because you can't even pay full price for it, you're forced to download
Have you tried? I've purchased several application from small-business vendors at a discount simply by sending an email saying "I like your product, but it's value to me is $X instead of your price at $Y. Would you be willing to sell me a copy at $X?" You'd be surprised, it works. I think some companies recognize that a sale made at a discount is better than a sale lost entirely.
I'd say you should have two versions of the software, like many high end developers do. One should be the "professional" full blown thing, and with the purchase price would come support, patches, and updates for a specified period, or indefinitely with maintenance. The other should be a stripped down "home" version which is either free or cheap. Don't put spyware in your software, it just sucks and makes people hate you.
Have you ever done any video editing? You do realize that video editing is resource intensive? If you tried to run the software from a remote server it would be an absolute performance nightmare. You'd be famous for creating the slowest video editing software known to man.
I agree, however, that remote execution is the only way to prevent your software from getting cracked. Essentially the program never leaves the company servers. Crackers can't crack what they don't have. Another "solution" is to release software that is so bad or that does something so useless that no one will bother to crack it. Or there is always security through obscurity. Don't tell anyone about the software. Keep it a secret. If people don't know about the existence of the software they can't crack it.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Of course, there would also be the option to sell the software with "Online User Community Support" for $100, and with "Work hour e-mail support" for $1000 and with "premium 24/365 phone support" for $10,000.
If the act of copying the software one more time is cheap, but support expensive, then charge for what really is expensive.
EXACTLY this. I'll probably get stoned for this, but the one Software I *rally* like license-wise is the Oracle Database.
Download everything you like, use everything you like for prototyping and self education, no DRM at all, but God help you legal-wise if you are found to use it in production unlicensed somewhere. Either you will get sued into oblivion, or you will get hung out to dry if there is some problem someday and you can't get support when your business data is in jeopardy.
The *legal* copy protection is the only model out there where the customer has less problems than the pirate. With any *technical* DRM the customer has more problems than the pirate.