Ok here's the deal. I made a program and I plan to sell it to other students in college. However I do not want people to buy it and make multiple copies of my work. What do I need to do in order to burn the file onto cd, people that buy my cd, can't drag and drop files to there desktop or burn the IMG allowing them to make multiple copies? This program took me forever to make so I want to actually make some money back.
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GAfers: Need Help!
- Thread starter Poody
- Start date
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Megafoo Chavez
I love EGM
solution. Give em away for free
Basic copy protection...
Let's look at your options.
You can have the program only install if the user has a reg key. This can be easily gone around if one student just gives his regkey to a friend.
You can try using any of the current copy protection schemes, but Alcohol120% will get around that in a jiffy.
Hmm...
Maybe you can do something like this: Each time the program goes to install, a random code pops up. The user then has to call you, and you give them the passcode that corresponds to their code. The program will not install unless the passcode matches the code the user has.
You'd have to come up with an algorithm that would allow tons of random codes on the user side, and an answer for them with another program for them on your side.
Let's look at your options.
You can have the program only install if the user has a reg key. This can be easily gone around if one student just gives his regkey to a friend.
You can try using any of the current copy protection schemes, but Alcohol120% will get around that in a jiffy.
Hmm...
Maybe you can do something like this: Each time the program goes to install, a random code pops up. The user then has to call you, and you give them the passcode that corresponds to their code. The program will not install unless the passcode matches the code the user has.
You'd have to come up with an algorithm that would allow tons of random codes on the user side, and an answer for them with another program for them on your side.
let me clarify the last part a bit more, as it's your most likely solution.
When the user goes to run the install program for your software, it'll popup a randomly generated code (You'll want a shitload of random possible codes. Maybe you could have the code on their end be something like this: 2 numbers 3 letters 2 numbers 1 letter. So a possible random code on their end could be 31ADC10V.)
Then they have to call you with their code, and you've got a program that takes that code and uses an algorithm to produce a specific answer passcode for it. They enter that in their install program, and their install program uses the same algorithm to see if the passcode they entered (that they got from you) matches what the passcode should be. If it doesn't, another random code is generated.
Something like this is definitely feasible, because they've got such a wide range of possible codes on their end that it would take them forever before they got the same code twice.
Of course, then you've got to make sure your actual software won't run unless certain registry keys and files are present, which would stop people from copying the contents of the install folder over to another PC and having the program work.
When the user goes to run the install program for your software, it'll popup a randomly generated code (You'll want a shitload of random possible codes. Maybe you could have the code on their end be something like this: 2 numbers 3 letters 2 numbers 1 letter. So a possible random code on their end could be 31ADC10V.)
Then they have to call you with their code, and you've got a program that takes that code and uses an algorithm to produce a specific answer passcode for it. They enter that in their install program, and their install program uses the same algorithm to see if the passcode they entered (that they got from you) matches what the passcode should be. If it doesn't, another random code is generated.
Something like this is definitely feasible, because they've got such a wide range of possible codes on their end that it would take them forever before they got the same code twice.
Of course, then you've got to make sure your actual software won't run unless certain registry keys and files are present, which would stop people from copying the contents of the install folder over to another PC and having the program work.
There are tons of copy protection software out there. Here I just made it easy for you:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=copy+protect+your+software
Of course you can't really stop the dedicated software cracker, but I highly doubt anyone would care or have the skills to do such a thing if your software's target base is tiny enough.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=copy+protect+your+software
Of course you can't really stop the dedicated software cracker, but I highly doubt anyone would care or have the skills to do such a thing if your software's target base is tiny enough.
Poody, you have two issues. First, if it's a PDF file on the CD, someone can simply print out the solutions and photocopy it. Quite frankly, that's probably the preferred way of passing the information around. I don't think you have any chance to restrict copying of this information.
Second, I'm not sure that you have full intellectual property rights to what you are attempting to sell. If you are answering problems from another source, I'm pretty sure that you have to get permission from that other source to include the questions with your answers. Someone else on the board may have more insight into the legal aspects, but my gut feeling is that it's not kosher.
Finally, on a personal note, I think it kind of sucks that you'd try to sell the answers, although I can understand the need to get money. Considering that many people have probably helped you get through school to this point, sharing the knowledge that you've gained with other people who aren't at your level yet is the noble thing to do. If you absolutely HAVE to try to make money off this knowledge, why not go into business as a tutor instead so you can a) get paid for your time and b) actually help the student to learn to think, rather than simply parrot set answers?
Second, I'm not sure that you have full intellectual property rights to what you are attempting to sell. If you are answering problems from another source, I'm pretty sure that you have to get permission from that other source to include the questions with your answers. Someone else on the board may have more insight into the legal aspects, but my gut feeling is that it's not kosher.
Finally, on a personal note, I think it kind of sucks that you'd try to sell the answers, although I can understand the need to get money. Considering that many people have probably helped you get through school to this point, sharing the knowledge that you've gained with other people who aren't at your level yet is the noble thing to do. If you absolutely HAVE to try to make money off this knowledge, why not go into business as a tutor instead so you can a) get paid for your time and b) actually help the student to learn to think, rather than simply parrot set answers?
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Poody said:
Don't worry one iota; college students are among the most trustworthy in the world, especially when it comes to easily traded computer software!
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