Re: Executing Encrypted Code

At 9:42 AM 12/20/1996, Bill Frantz wrote:
>At 11:16 PM -0800 12/19/96, Peter Hendrickson wrote:
>> Or, you could turn in the broken processor and have the manufacturer
>> certify that it was turned in to the software vendors and that
>> a new version of the software should be generated.

> I meant processor backup of course.  When my processor breaks at 2AM and I
> need to get the report out by 8AM, I'm going to call the software support
> line and get help.

If your processor dies you are SOL whether or not you have software.

If it's worthwhile having a backup processor around, then you just have
to spend a little more to have backup software, too.

> Or the friendly hardware manufacturer is going to come
> right out and certify my processor is dead.  Come on and get real.  With
> most software vendors I can't even submit a bug report.

If the reissuance of software is not possible (which I don't believe),
it's an acceptable risk.  Processors die far far less often than disks,
and disks are getting pretty reliable.

If the software companies can't get it together to reissue software,
then it would certainly be easy to sell processor insurance to people
who wanted it.  This would allow them to replace their ~$10,000 software
library.  (You can buy theft insurance for roughly the same payoffs,
so it's a feasible business.  Theft is harder to verify and in my
judgement occurs much more frequently than processor failure.)

> Note that I am not saying there is a technical problem here.  I do see big
> problems with infrastructure and marketing.  The last time software
> companies tried to market copy protection, it failed in the market place.
> I predict that encyphered instruction streams will too, and for the same
> reasons.

If the old copy protection just worked, it would have been widely accepted.

Old copy protection had many problems.  It didn't stop piracy.  Sometimes
it crashed your machine.  Some schemes worked on some Intel machines but
not on others.  Backups were a problem.  Etcetara.

Peter Hendrickson
ph@netcom.com

At 11:52 AM -0800 12/20/96, Peter Hendrickson wrote:
>At 9:42 AM 12/20/1996, Bill Frantz wrote:
>> I meant processor backup of course.  When my processor breaks at 2AM and I
>> need to get the report out by 8AM, I'm going to call the software support
>> line and get help.
>
>If your processor dies you are SOL whether or not you have software.

I have 3 Macs in the house.  The places I work have rooms full of machines.


>If it's worthwhile having a backup processor around, then you just have
>to spend a little more to have backup software, too.

I thought your model was cheap processors and expensive software.  I.e.,.
The cost of the software is greater than the cost of the hardware.  Sounds
like more than just "a little more".


>If the old copy protection just worked, it would have been widely accepted.

Again, there is a complex infrastructure which offers the customer no
obvious benefit.  I disagree that copy protection would have been widely
accepted, even had it worked smoothly.  In fact, this scheme can be
characterized as a scheme to make copy protection work.

(Slightly tangentially, when my wife was in China at the Women's Conference
NGO meeting, someone walked off with a collection of copy protection
dongles as souvenirs.  The people who wanted to use the software were SOL.)


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I think this whole idea of encrypted software and processors is pretty poorly  
thought out.  How do you handle an organization with a site license for  
20,000 users of a piece of software?  Do you issue 20,000 unique copies?  Do  
you really think the lower price of the software is going to offset the cost  
of an organization to manage all those processor certificates?  Site licensed  
software is already about as cheap as the companies are willing to sell it.   
How about the extra hard drive space you have to purchase because you can't  
just keep one copy on a server anymore?  Think about what a nightmare it would  
be to update a piece of software on 20,000 machines simultaneously!!  It's  
hard enough to do it now!!

What happens if a software company goes out of business?   You are then  
completely screwed when your processor dies or becomes obsolete.  Around here  
we still run a few pieces of ancient hardware that were pretty pathetic back  
in 1988.  The software on them is critical but won't run on anything else and  
there is no source code available.  Believe me, nobody here would dare to make  
that mistake again!!!  At least with our current situation if the hardware  
dies we would probably be able to find a replacement (and I'm sure there are  
some replacements waiting in the stock room...).  But with your encrypted  
processor we couldn't even do that!

It seems to me that this is yet another scheme that basically does nothing  
but seriously inconvenience the software user.  Much like clipper, I believe  
this is a dog that won't hunt!!

Perhaps instead of trying to find a way to force users into paying, software  
companies should concentrate on how offer more value and make their prices  
seem more attractive.  Even with piracy, the software industry is far and away  
the most profitable of all!!


andrew