Originally posted by Baek
Sir. I feel the above would do far more harm than good.
IME, protection routines/algorithms are an double edged sword, the harder the nut to crack, the greater the temptation to crack it (and often, the more user-unfriendly software becomes.)
In short, don't bother wasting resources better spent elsewhere. Accept piracy exists, will always exist, rather, strive to produce software worth every penny.
The Aquarium had a key generator available 45 minutes after release, days before customers have been upgraded.
Right now, with 0 effort, we're getting 0 protection. The only people the keycode system frustrated this time around were the customers (and apparently, even a few of them weren't frustrated by it either
).
It doesn't cost much to add a few layers of protection to the Aquarium. The key is not to protect the Aquarium from you, but to protect the Aquarium such that the average person downloading it will try a few times to get it working, get frustrated, and either get out the plastic or delete it.
CuteFTP and WordZap are sufficiently difficult to pirate that I would imagine their sales are higher than if they just "left the barn door open" so to speak.
It should tell you something that CUSTOMERS are crying out for better protection from piracy in the Aquarium. I don't know too many products that have customers asking for that (vBulletin is another one).
Speaking as an long time amateur C/ASM programmer, hardware dongle aside (and even then
) I have yet to dissect code that cannot be cracked, including that of multi-billion dollar corporations, with little dedication.
Again, the protection is not to stop people like you. It's to stop the average person. Why do people cause $500 in vandalism damage to the car of a complete stranger because of minor parking infractions? Because they can!
If the key were plastic, or if the car were enamel-coated, or if there were a slight electric shock, 98% of people would give up. It's the 98%.
Side-Note; How do I acquire Mr. Sachs widescreen aquarium?
www.serenescreen.com under F.A.Q.