You can secure such software today with a hardware crypto key. This what I do currently at work. The key can be connected to USB, serial or parallel port. Every has a unique serial no. You can store/retrieve data on/from that key, however you need special codes to do that, that you get from the manufacturer of the key. We store the license no on the key (deriavative of the key's serial no) and optionally the number of concurrent uses for each module the software contains. The maximum number of uses will be used together with a license server. When you buy the software, you get the crypto key, main license no and an activation key for every module you use (you can buy / activate additional modules later if you choose to). To run the software you have to have the key plugged all the time (a seperate thread checks that every 30 seconds). Alternatively you can buy the license server, plug the key there and have all the copies of the software communicate over the TCP/IP with server to authorise their use. I don't know anything about the DRM, however I would like to know, how can you secure the software, not knowing the bios id in advance (what can possibly prevent you from installing multiple copies from one cd)
everybody buying a Dell or Gateway machine has the latest version of Office bundled with their machine
Actually, that's very unlikely. Recently I walked into a Media-Markt store (they have shops all over the country, sell all sort of electronics, ranging from computers to tv sets and cell phones). All the computers on display, save for one were preloaded with DOS. The one that actually had win xp was 200$ more expensive than its equivalent with dos, which is quite a lot for a 1000$ computer. BTW, I think they sell Windows and Office there too. I believe customers who choose Dell or Gateway are usually those, that don't have a clue. I discussed it with my coworker recently, after removing a blaster worm from a computer manufactured by a major PC seller in my country (my company charged 60 $ for it - average sallary in my country is approx. 500$). It was equipped with Celeron 1.7 Ghz, winx xp and 128 MB RAM, the latter making the system dog slow. My old Celeron 1.0 w/ 256 MB performs much better than it and is probably much cheaper. When we told him he had too little RAM, he commented that might be true, because his daughter downloads lots of files over the internet:) People that have basic understanding of computers usually go with the little stores and buy custom sets, that don't have silly configurations, just to appear cheaper. And they rarely care about Office, because they know the price of it.
Actually, I'm tired of all those weird programs that keep installing on the windows xp box I use from time to time, like CommonName, DownloadWare and god knows what. Recently I had something like 10-20 completely unknown processes after I started computer, that sort of used half of cpu time. Something wants to connect to the Internet the moment I start windows to a weird site I have never heard before and I don't know how to get rid of it. I thought about reinstalling windows, but then the system will be vulnerable to blaster (again) before I patch. Also, where do those spontaneous commercials I see in IE come from (even when I use Mozilla - default browser)? The main thing that keeps me from using Linux at the moment is speed (Red Hat 9.0 is dog slow if you use Celeron 1.0 and 256 ram) and too large font/icon size (resoultion 1152x864).
I've heard an opinion recently, that the GPL is just a hack around the normal legal system. Basically, the free software movement did not start with changing the law. It wasn't like there were demonstrations or petitions against copyrights. Instead the legal system was simply hacked. I just wondered if that could be done again, this time with patents. Wouldn't making simple adjustements to the GPL work? Here are my (very rough) proposals I) if you agree to use this software you must not claim infrigments of any of your patents by any software covered with the GPL 3 or greater Also, the FSF, OSDN or whatever free software organization could register patents and then license them under the GPL with the following another adjustement II) you are free to use the patents no. aaa, bbb,..., in any program covered by this license free of charge, however you are forbidden from using this patents in any product not covered by this license I am writing this from mozilla, so I have some simple patents proposals (I don't know if they are valid) a) type ahead search b) spam filter c) mouse gestures I know they are stupid (just like every patent out there). Imagine next time a nuisance like SCO happens (hey, but you infringe 100 of our patents:)). Basically, what I am saying - if you cannot change the system, use it to your advantages. Any thougths on why did would or not work?
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What political campaign in China are you talking about ?
I think Longhorn will be the first Windows with a database filesystem. It will probably be based on SQL Server
You can secure such software today with a hardware crypto key. This what I do currently at work. The key can be connected to USB, serial or parallel port. Every has a unique serial no. You can store/retrieve data on/from that key, however you need special codes to do that, that you get from the manufacturer of the key. We store the license no on the key (deriavative of the key's serial no) and optionally the number of concurrent uses for each module the software contains. The maximum number of uses will be used together with a license server. When you buy the software, you get the crypto key, main license no and an activation key for every module you use (you can buy / activate additional modules later if you choose to). To run the software you have to have the key plugged all the time (a seperate thread checks that every 30 seconds). Alternatively you can buy the license server, plug the key there and have all the copies of the software communicate over the TCP/IP with server to authorise their use. I don't know anything about the DRM, however I would like to know, how can you secure the software, not knowing the bios id in advance (what can possibly prevent you from installing multiple copies from one cd)
everybody buying a Dell or Gateway machine has the latest version of Office bundled with their machine :) People that have basic understanding of computers usually go with the little stores and buy custom sets, that don't have silly configurations, just to appear cheaper. And they rarely care about Office, because they know the price of it.
Actually, that's very unlikely. Recently I walked into a Media-Markt store (they have shops all over the country, sell all sort of electronics, ranging from computers to tv sets and cell phones). All the computers on display, save for one were preloaded with DOS. The one that actually had win xp was 200$ more expensive than its equivalent with dos, which is quite a lot for a 1000$ computer. BTW, I think they sell Windows and Office there too. I believe customers who choose Dell or Gateway are usually those, that don't have a clue. I discussed it with my coworker recently, after removing a blaster worm from a computer manufactured by a major PC seller in my country (my company charged 60 $ for it - average sallary in my country is approx. 500$). It was equipped with Celeron 1.7 Ghz, winx xp and 128 MB RAM, the latter making the system dog slow. My old Celeron 1.0 w/ 256 MB performs much better than it and is probably much cheaper. When we told him he had too little RAM, he commented that might be true, because his daughter downloads lots of files over the internet
Actually, I'm tired of all those weird programs that keep installing on the windows xp box I use from time to time, like CommonName, DownloadWare and god knows what. Recently I had something like 10-20 completely unknown processes after I started computer, that sort of used half of cpu time. Something wants to connect to the Internet the moment I start windows to a weird site I have never heard before and I don't know how to get rid of it. I thought about reinstalling windows, but then the system will be vulnerable to blaster (again) before I patch. Also, where do those spontaneous commercials I see in IE come from (even when I use Mozilla - default browser)? The main thing that keeps me from using Linux at the moment is speed (Red Hat 9.0 is dog slow if you use Celeron 1.0 and 256 ram) and too large font/icon size (resoultion 1152x864).
I've heard an opinion recently, that the GPL is just a hack around the normal legal system. Basically, the free software movement did not start with changing the law. It wasn't like there were demonstrations or petitions against copyrights. Instead the legal system was simply hacked. I just wondered if that could be done again, this time with patents. Wouldn't making simple adjustements to the GPL work? Here are my (very rough) proposals ..., in any program covered by this license free of charge, however you are forbidden from using this patents in any product not covered by this license :)). Basically, what I am saying - if you cannot change the system, use it to your advantages. Any thougths on why did would or not work?
I) if you agree to use this software you must not claim infrigments of any of your patents by any software covered with the GPL 3 or greater
Also, the FSF, OSDN or whatever free software organization could register patents and then license them under the GPL with the following another adjustement
II) you are free to use the patents no. aaa, bbb,
I am writing this from mozilla, so I have some
simple patents proposals (I don't know if they are valid)
a) type ahead search
b) spam filter
c) mouse gestures
I know they are stupid (just like every patent out there). Imagine next time a nuisance like SCO happens (hey, but you infringe 100 of our patents