I just don't care about the cracked versions. Some people don't have spare money to buy our apps, some don't want to spend their money on apps at all. It's up to them. Maybe one day they'll be able to support the development.
Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
101–110 of 126 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why there were no new software startups of any significance launched between 1995 (when web browsers made piracy trivial) and 2006 (when Salesforce.com launched the first modern SaaS business).
To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005 than 2006 (the successful launch count in that window obviously wasn't zero but I'm pretty sure it's down significantly from the before and after…
Valve, Rockstar Games, PopCap?
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why there were no new software startups of any significance launched between 1995 (when web browsers made piracy trivial) and 2006 (when Salesforce.com launched the first modern SaaS business).
To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005 than 2006 (the successful launch count in that window obviously wasn't zero but I'm pretty sure it's down significantly from the before and after…
> To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005
Have you heard of Google or Facebook's origins? They were both in that window and pretty significant. Valve, LinkedIn and Netflix have also done okay...
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why there were no new software startups of any significance launched between 1995 (when web browsers made piracy trivial) and 2006 (when Salesforce.com launched the first modern SaaS business).
To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005 than 2006 (the successful launch count in that window obviously wasn't zero but I'm pretty sure it's down significantly from the before and after…
Google.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not irony, it's naming. If you name copyright violation as piracy, you associate murder and theft and rape and kidnapping with unauthorized copying. Don't be a pirate. If you have to be, be an unauthorized copier. In the meantime, think about whether you want to use carrot strategies or stick strategies.
> If you name copyright violation as piracy [...] I think that ship has sailed.
I'm not going to use a term the MPAA/RIAA co-opted and pushed into our language, despite the success of their marketing efforts over the last few decades.
If you want to equate murder, rape and plundering from and often enslaving strangers with the concept of unauthorized copying, then that's your prerogative. I won't judge, but I'll still call it either unauthorized copying or just sharing.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005 than 2006 (the successful launch count in that window obviously wasn't zero but I'm pretty sure it's down significantly from the before and after…
> To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005 Have you heard of Google or Facebook's origins? They were both in that window and pretty significant. Valve, LinkedIn and Netflix have also done…
Thanks these are great names to fold into the mix Google, Netflix, and LinkedIn are great tech companies but their presence on the list actually supports the idea that traditional software companies had a hard time launching during that window as two of them are server-based subscription products and the third is a server-based advertising product. Valve's a bit more complicated, largely because GabeN is a genius, but I think it's fair to say that their pivot from game company business model to server-based distribution company further backs up the argument that 1995 marks the end of the old school boxed-software/downloadable-software business model.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#107A while back a friend of mine told me he installed a 'clean my Mac' application, thought it was decent and went looking for a crack. So the story went - the top link was one to their own website with full instructions on how to crack the app - something like - www.appname.com/how-to-crack-appname/, or whatever. On the page was complete and detailed instructions on how to crack it yourself using a hex editor or decomp…
This reminds me of https://www.codeux.com/textual/ The software is on GitHub ( https://github.com/Codeux-Software/Textual ) and you can compile it yourself and, thus, remove the "you gotta pay" checks and such. If you can do that you are free to do that... or you can just pay for it and don't have to bother. It's not crazy expensive ($5.99), but I decided to go for the former just because it was more fun to me. If I…
What's preventing someone from setting up an automatic compile-and-upload tool ?
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
To the downvoter(s): I'm genuinely curious, can you name any significant software companies that launched during that era? I've not done an exhaustive search, but I've looked for them and have had a much harder time finding software companies with launch dates of 1996-2005 than 2006 (the successful launch count in that window obviously wasn't zero but I'm pretty sure it's down significantly from the before and after…
Valve, Rockstar Games, PopCap?
Valve launched as a boxed-software company but quickly pivoted to being a server-based digital distribution company. Rockstar made most of their money in the console market where piracy rates remained far lower than the general PC market, precisely because the console manufacturers invested billions in custom hardware to try to keep the boxed-software business model viable there in ways it wasn't in the PC arena. And yeah, PopCap did incredibly well as a boxed-software/downloadable-software business but given the insane number of game studios that launched and died in that era (I spent ~10 years working in the game industry), I don't find a handful of game companies that did make it a convincing argument that the boxed-software business model survived unscathed after 1995. Pretty much everybody else was either going out of business or scrambling to turn themselves into server-based business models.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#109Thanks for all your answers !
I'm definitely going to do soon the "How to Crack MyProduct Without Virus !" page and I'll think about changing the trial and the features it gives.
A good long term solution would be to develop a SaaS business around the product and if I find a way to mix that business model with open source that would be even better (my product could be faster being GPL).
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with piracy?
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of https://www.codeux.com/textual/ The software is on GitHub ( https://github.com/Codeux-Software/Textual ) and you can compile it yourself and, thus, remove the "you gotta pay" checks and such. If you can do that you are free to do that... or you can just pay for it and don't have to bother. It's not crazy expensive ($5.99), but I decided to go for the former just because it was more fun to me. If I…
What's preventing someone from setting up an automatic compile-and-upload tool ?
Upload where?