Just when you thought is was safe... (Microsoft Copy Protection)

[Chuq Von Rospach; Lord of the OtherRealms]

Just about the time I was making my second set of comments on Copy
Protection (see Fullpaint. and the followup) Microsoft was announcing (per
messages on CompuServe that I saw) the removal of Copy Protection from all
Macintosh products. First one to be available will be an Excel update, with
Word and File updates down the pike (no, I dno't have dates of update
procedures, although I hope to soon -- CompuServe crashed on me while I was
reading...)

All I can say is "Congratulations Microsoft!"

Now, what about the rest of you? There is no justification for Copy
Protection. Mutter, mutter, and all the normal hyperbole. (Just as a matter
of record, I rebuilt my hard disk tonight for various reasons. Thanks to
the Copy Protection on three programs (Word, File, and MacPublisher II) I
lost well over an HOUR beyond the normal backup/format/restore process
pulling out masters, making copies with Copy II Mac, and installing (and
defeating) the various protections. Remember, I paid EXTRA for the
priviledge of doing this, since I (1) paid for the copy protection when I
bought the program, and (2) paid for Copy II Mac to defeat it.

Makes a lot of sense, no?

Anyway, I'm sure my comments were coincidental to the announcement and had
nothing to do with the change in Microsoft's policy, but I do hope people
get serious and refuse to buy non-copy protected programs. And make those
manufacturers aware of that fact. Copy Protection DOES NOT WORK and only
hurts the legitimate owners of the software.

chuq

[Thomas Newton]

> Microsoft was announcing (per messages on Compuserve that I saw) the

> removal of Copy Protection from all Macintosh products.

Any idea when they'll be removing the copy perversion from Flight Simulator,
and how one can tell the non-CP version from the CP version? I'd buy a copy
if they removed the silly CP and the bogus "licensing agreement" (which they
hide inside the package so as not to scare off buyers -- but I saw there was
one because a local chain bookstore had a copy of Flight Simulator open as a
demonstrator). (The "agreement" was apparently specific to Flight Simulator,
but contained various fun phrases like 'you have a right to make a backup if
the program isn't copy-protected' (and pigs could fly if they had wings...))

> All I can say is "Congratulations Microsoft!"

I agree. I hope they drive Lotus completely into the ground. Apparently in
the IBM-PC world, Lotus is one of the big holdouts for CP. And for the Mac,
the expensive and CP Jazz doesn't look so hot when you consider what Excel +
{Word, MacWrite} + {MacTerminal, Red Ryder, VersaTerm} + Switcher can do.

-- Thomas Newton

[Ray Holmes]

In article <80...@sun.uucp> ch...@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach; Lord of the OtherRealms) writes:
[ ... ]

>
>Anyway, I'm sure my comments were coincidental to the announcement and had
>nothing to do with the change in Microsoft's policy, but I do hope people
>get serious and refuse to buy non-copy protected programs. And make those

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>manufacturers aware of that fact. Copy Protection DOES NOT WORK and only
>hurts the legitimate owners of the software.
>
>chuq

I'm sure you didn't mean this!!!

Ray