RE: [little OT] Licensing/Implementing in Cocoa/Obj-C
RE: [little OT] Licensing/Implementing in Cocoa/Obj-C
- Subject: RE: [little OT] Licensing/Implementing in Cocoa/Obj-C
- From: Greg Hurrell <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 21:10:14 +0200
El 20/04/2004, a las 20:14, Josh Ferguson escribis:
"The unstated, but implied notion, is that every copy pirated is a
lost sale. "
I would argue strongly that this is not an implied notion at all. In
the several discussions I've been involved in on this list, this has
always been explicitly stated.
Well, I certainly would not wish to imply that every copy pirated is a
lost sale; quite the contrary, I have since explicitly stated that when
I talked about 10,000 pirated copies, I would expect only a portion of
them to be converted into sales as a consequence of better copy
protection. The figure I pulled off the top of my head was around a
thousand (ie. 10%), which I think is fairly modest. The population
you're targeting is the small-time software pirate, the person who
normally engages in "casual" software piracy but will purchase a
license like an honest person if "encouraged" to do so. Every such
conversion results in a real improvement to your bottom line.
You're also implying that a certain percentage of customers will NOT
buy your product based entirely on your licensing scheme. I highly
doubt that there is a significant number of people who would halt
their purchase process because of the license scheme.
Agreed wholeheartedly. (And note that Josh works for eSellerate, who
sublicense a successful registration/activation engine on a wide scale,
so he knows what he's talking about).
I also have yet to hear a valid argument against product activation,
other than "it's an inconvenience". Cry me a river!
One possible objection is that it constitutes a "breach of the user's
privacy". Done correctly, as eSellerate does it, there is no
transmission of personal information, so there's no privacy issue.
Another objection: what if the company goes out of business and I can't
reactivate? Put a statement up on your website reassuring customers of
your publicly recognised history in the software market, and make a
pledge to offer a version of the software for download that does not
depend on product activation in the event that the company should cease
to operate.
(As I said in another email in this thread, people take the risk all
the time when they buy software licenses: vendors can go belly-up, and
cease to support or update their apps, they can break when Apple
releases an OS update; there are no guarantees. Such is life. And
people don't let that stop them from licensing software, do they?)
What if I want to change my hardware configuration and I need to
reactivate? Solution: make reactivation fair, reasonable, and easy.
Product activation accuses me of being a criminal! Response: no it
doesn't. Product activation should be instant and painless for honest
users. It's not an accusation against honest people; it's a means of
preventing dishonest people from engaging in piracy. In other words,
the intended "recipient" of the product activation "message" is not the
honest user, but the dishonest one.
My experience with Product Activation backs this up. We've only had
one person who requested a return, citing product activation as one of
the reasons (although it wasn't the only reason). And guess what!
After we returned the product for him, he activated it several more
times! I find it very difficult to feel sorry for making the
occasional customer email me because he licensed his product on
several computers (when the license only gran!
ted him use on one computer) so that I can reset his activation limit
(which I generally do without question). If we refused to buy a
product or demanded a return every time we were inconvenienced, nobody
would own cars, everyone would be living on the street, and nobody
would have computers to bitch at in the first place ;).
"I'd recommend worrying about taking care of paying customers and
forgetting about people who might not pay you even if piracy were
impossible."
Why do these things have to be mutually exclusive? I find it much
easier to take care of my customers while maintaining a fair product
activation. Nay, I'd say it's easier with product activation because I
don't have to worry about supporting customers who do not and will
never pay me for my work. As long as you put out a solid product and
follow it up with good customer support, you're invariably going to
maximize your sales.
Well said!
Cheers
Greg
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