Re: executable obfuscator?
Re: executable obfuscator?
- Subject: Re: executable obfuscator?
- From: "Andy O'Meara" <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 07:30:09 -0500
I've been following this thread, and it seems reminiscent of
premature optimization: a lot of work for an unknown benefit. I
don't have any hard statistics to support my beliefs (and I don't
know that anyone has hard numbers about revenues lost to hackers),
but:
You don't have any hard numbers because if you did, you wouldn't be
saying this. I'm guessing you also don't sell entertainment software
that targets the musical/young/teen/hip community for $30--it's not
like we sell and industrial app. If you did, you wouldn't be saying
this. When our software checks for updates, we can get stats that
lets us infer a lot of info.
- I'm not worried about people who hack software so they can use it
for free. Those are a tiny percentage of users. A much, much bigger
issue is the practice of posting serial numbers they've hacked on
the web for anyone and everyone to use. That only requires one
person who is able to hack your application and willing to post
hacked serial number and then anyone who lacks integrity can use
your product for free.
Our software, when it checks for updates, also grabs what we call a
passive (encrypted) blacklist of SNs that are bad. This way, any
compromised SNs usually get rejected. Also, this is a passive
approach, so we're respecting user privacy. Our SNs.have the user's
name baked into them, so when the software starts up, they see their
name, keeping honest users honest.
- I'm inclined to believe that the majority of software being used
without a valid license does not represent lost revenue. Many
people who will use software for free wouldn't use it if they had
to pay for it.
This is true in part, but not for everyone--and we have *tons* of
hard data (that I don't wish to disclose). Do you think we do the
extra work if our stats didn't support it? When I chat with
shareware devs that sell to the same community that we do, the ones
that aren't concerned about piracy are usually the same ones that
don't have any mechanisms for collecting piracy rates of their
software. The second that they have something in place, they usually
become very concerned overnight (this is what happened to me years
ago).
If you told me that you make your living from selling shareware to
the community I mentioned above then I'd be more convinced, so please
Larry--for once--just stop. For once, try listening more than
lecturing.
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