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It is a real issue. one thing I don't like is when people steal good software companies go out of business. I personally always buy my software mainly because I like to support the companies who are bringing me the great software........Something to be added to the mix is that there are a lot of honest people being screwed by software companies due to their anti piracy devices....I owned autotune (anteres)...I say owned past tense because I became so disgusted I deleted it and will never do business w/them again) I bought the software legally and then had to buy an ilok which worked the first time for about a month, cost me $50 to have it fixed, the second one worked for about a week. there are no people to talk to so If I want to use what I bought and now paid 80 extra to get to use (30 for original ilok 50 for replacement) I have to pay 50 dollars again. ...



You just nailed the conundrum for a software company and I don't know if there's an answer. My understanding is the only kind of copy protection that really works and stops the hackers is hardware based and virtually every one of those I read about suck. All internet based call/response type of authorization using codes get hacked by keygens.
Most software companies start out with a couple of college kids working out of a dorm. Even if they turn it into something there's no way they can hire enough people to handle customer support questions and if they try, they can't make enough money to be worth it. So, they're faced with two choices, they get stolen to death or they get expensed to death. Either way they die. The trick seems to be to survive long enough to get bought out for enough to either retire or to stake a new venture.
I think PG is surviving because they started way before the internet was a problem and they had time to build up a loyal customer base before all this crap happened. If Peter were starting now it probably wouldn't work.

Bob

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