Re: [OT] Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License Keys...
Re: [OT] Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License Keys...
- Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License Keys...
- From: Michael Gersten <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 11:18:12 -0700
This has come up before. I think Brad Cox himself once proposed something like this.
It can't work. Not as a one-time sell of the bundles, anyways.
The problems:
1. The companies that sell the bundles, if they can only sell the bundle once per person, regardless of how much it is used, have to price it high enough to get all its value from that one sell. That makes the first program purchased on this system very expensive, although future ones are cheaper.
2. Future ones are cheaper only if the SAME bundles are used. If one developer used the MSHtml.bundle, and another used the OWHtml.bundle, and a third used OPHtml.bundle, then the end user is paying Microsoft, OmniGroup, and Opera, for three different bundles that have the same functionality, but instead of paying based on three applications, is paying based on three lifetimes.
It might work as a per-program sell of the bundles.
I do agree that some way of changing the selling of bundles is a good idea. Right now it seems to be, to the developer, a one-time charge for any number of users or apps, which is good for the big guys, and bad for the little developers.
Switching to a per-end-user system will help the little guy developer, but not if they have a 5000 user minimum package. Up front.
Now, as to the idea of downloads as the distribution method, I can assure you that there are locations where no highspeed access is available, where no 56K ISP is available because of distance. CD's are pretty cheap, and only about $0.60 to mail.
Edwin Zacharias wrote:
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This is something I wrote up one night. I'm not the originator of this
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idea. It sort of pertains to the discussion of licensing, in that I
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think it would make selling shareware easier. It would also allow
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shareware and freeware to be combined. Personally, I think it would
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make the Mac ten times better.
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What if OmniGroup made every component of OmniWeb, OmniGraffle and
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OmniOutliner available to developers to use? What if developers could
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use these components and distribute them in their own software? What if
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the developer didn't have to pay OmniGroup anything to do this? Rather,
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the end users would pay OmniGroup for the components directly.
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This would let every shareware author use components written by
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companies. This would companies make more money by letting shareware
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authors fill niches their applications don't fill. This would let
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shareware authors use reusable code without having to pay for it up
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front. This would let companies make money selling frameworks and
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bundles directly to end users.
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Why not?
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ObjectWare App
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ObjectWare is a centralized software license validation system for Mac
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OS X. The purpose of ObjectWare is to foster reusable code by
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supporting a system where users pay for code bundles, not just
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applications. Anyone could then include any bundle in any application,
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giving developers the power of major companies. Users would buy only
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the bundles they need, giving them more power. User would also save
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money because they'd only have to pay for a bundle once even if it's
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used in many application. Anyone could sell bundles, giving developers
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the ability to make money selling reusable components.
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Here's how a programmer would use it to make his own web browser.
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First, he would create the web browser using the OmniWeb components.
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Then he would create a license for his app and add it to the ObjectWare
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system. He would then distribute the binary any way he wants, with the
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OmniWeb components or without. For example, if he were to offer it for
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download then he would only package the components he created. The
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ObjectWare app would make sure that every necessary component is
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downloaded and that everything is licensed.
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I just thought this was a cool idea. And I think it can be done.
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- Edwin
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P.S. Please don't bug me about how OmniGroup makes some frameworks
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available for free. Look in the plugIn directory of their apps and
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you'll see a lot of stuff that's not free.
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