

Editorial: Copy 'protection' only hurts people who actually buy your product - SandB0x
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/25/editorial-for-the-umpteenth-time-copy-protection-only-hurts/

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gamble
I'm largely sympathetic, but it's not an entirely black-and-white issue. Some
DRM systems help content creators and users. For example, Steam and hardware
DRM on game consoles combat the piracy that is otherwise endemic to games and
helped drive traditional PC game developers away from single-player games.

HDCP is an example of the opposite extreme. It punishes paying customers,
while providing no benefit to content owners unless all other, easier forms of
piracy were eradicated. It's pointless to worry about someone cracking hdmi
when every available Bluray has already been cracked.

The key is that good DRM systems should invisible to paying users.
Circumventing them should be just difficult enough that users are motivated to
pay.

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danilocampos
It's so tragically true. I made a rule during my iOS development adventures:
I'll only write code that benefits my paying customers. No piracy detection,
no DRM validation horseshit. I could sink a lot of time into those activities
and you know who it would benefit?

No one. Not my customers, not me.

Piracy, in the end, is a marketing expense. The percentage of my potential
users who are technically capable enough to pirate my stuff may as well be a
rounding error. And even if it were north of 10%, having more people using my
code and showing their friends cool things my apps can do more than makes up
for any loss.

I build things because it's fun to get _the high_ from seeing something start
to work. I build them because I like to see people use my stuff to make their
lives just a bit easier.

When you invest any amount of time on making your stuff harder to steal
instead of more worthwhile to buy, you're a shortsighted dickass who needs to
get out of the business of making things.

edit: Though, on the other hand, I'm not down with piracy enablers making
money instead of me, so the piracy sites like RapidShare always get DMCA
notices when I catch them. RS, at least, is great about honoring these.

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kiba
I am trying to launch my web application while remaining open source. It's a
bit crazy, and my gut feeling say it is absolutely crazy.

Nonetheless, I am interested in seeing how can I work with my site being open
source and how to make money.

I put my hypothesis is that people don't care much or don't want to set up a
web application when they can sign up for a web service that is of low enough
barrier. So I am planning to charge 5 bucks a month just to see what happen.

I do not see DRM and anti-piracy technologies as a solution to my problem. If
people respect copyright, they would all be running to free products like GIMP
instead of purchasing photoshop.

I also have no ethical issue with piracy and pirating. However, let it be
clear that contractual copyright is something I absolutely support. _However_
, if there are no expressed agreement between two parties, than it is
absolutely ethical to "pirate". If third parties get their hand on copyrighted
material that the initial party agree not to distribute, than the third party
has not done anything wrong because he didn't agree to anything.

But contractual copyright, like current copyright are not alway or maybe never
_solutions_. If you're going to use copyright, make sure you don't fall into
"It ain't fair for people to pirated from me" mindset. That's a dangerous trap
and path to your doom on the free market.

I consider copyright truth to be important to the survival of business. An
accurate model of the benefit and cost of copyright will make or break an
entire industries, corporations, and individuals. Don't assume anything.

~~~
jrockway
This model seems to have worked well for RT and Best Practical Solutions. RT
is GPL, but they sell support for it and seem to make enough money to have
employees and buy e-book readers :)

Slashdot is similar. Open source code, but people still click the ads and pay
for subscriptions.

Given the choice to use a closed web service versus one with all the code
available, I'd pay more every time to use the open one.

~~~
kiba
_Given the choice to use a closed web service versus one with all the code
available, I'd pay more every time to use the open one._

With some good luck and hard pushing, I should have a terrible web application
for hacker news people to critique and ripped to shred. It would also be a
chance for you to try my service and see if you're going to pay for it.

We'll see, we'll see...

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rincewind
That _is_ the point of DRM. If you already paid for it once, you are likely to
pay again.

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tomjen3
It also gives you a better experience - I can go and buy a DVD in which case I
have to find some place to put it, I have to switch the disc when I want to
watch another (and I have to actually find it) and I can't easily bring a
bunch with me.

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ryanpetrich
Third party apps can and do use the VGA out; VLC doesn't yet, but it wouldn't
be difficult to add.

