I found pirated Uhe software

[thetechnobear]

not really... your using 'reduction to absurdity' - my 'inconvenience' is fully recoverable from, as no user files are harmed (unlike a proper format) any competent IT person could fully recover the system, with no loss.
(as you say this is important, as there can be false positives, and also open a company up to lawsuits.)
Anyway, its in jest, as you say its not worth any one company taking the risk...


@Urs, cool, I'm glad to hear you can turn them around

[abique]

@abique, all forms of cracking/hacking/theft is the same, its not clever (they should write software, like u-he, if they think they are a hotshot coders!), and there are no good reasons for it (they should contact the developer if they think they have a good cause)
its done because its anonymous and often lacks of consequences, it 'appears' to hurt no-one. (it does, its damaging many industries)

Well let's have a look to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_cracking

Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: (copy protection, protection against the manipulation of software), trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances like nag screens and adware.

Cracking is not about ego, like "I'm the best I can crack them all...". It is more about a philosophy where some people believe that software should be free, and the crack is the step toward the freedom. So from their point of view they're doing something right, good for the community.

Also the cracker maybe a young guy, like 14 years old

in reality though, I would say, I think the vast majority that used cracked software, probably don't really use it... or value it, but still not the point.

Yes it is an important point. If they just use the software a little bit, it is like an "extended" demo version. If they use it a long time, then as I said, they'll probably become clients if they can, and spread the word.

I'm not saying that cracking is good, but I don't think that it is as much harmful as I read in this topic.

@Urs, nice... but your more forgiving than me ...
Id delete some system critical files, display a nice message saying "software piracy is theft, have a nice day" , and reboot the 'unbootable' system.
then it will really be more convenient to buy software rather than crack it

Imagine there is a race condition in the threaded implementation of the synths (or any bug), and some random user gets its system down, losses important personnal data, etc... Maybe in this case it is better to punish no one than take the risk to punish inocent people.

[chilly7]

Anyways sometime people crack then buy, or some people crack because they have no money so there is no money loss...

Well "awrybody" does not work because I DO NOT DO THAT!!!
P.s. Ofcause i have to admit that i did it in the past and i am really shame for that!!!

[chilly7]

Anyways sometime people crack then buy, or some people crack because they have no money so there is no money loss...

...and a lot of times they crack because there are no consequences. just ask Urs about his timebombs and how they relate to sudden hike in sales numbers...

Ha-ha, i recived screen shot from Uhe support today what they do to bad boys or girls if they pirait their software.

[chilly7]

If it was my software and I knew the illegal serials # , id be tempted to put out a new version with some 'special features' for these 'users'

Me too!

And here is my thing what i suggested but Uhe dined to do that

I would suggest u to make smething even more fanny!!!
There willl be pop up massege
There voice must be like in horror movies:
"I am extraterestrial mind and i ask u why are u using cracked software?"
1 min pause
"Go buy legal license or i will panish u!!!"
20 second pause
The after that will be evil smile
"Ha-ha-ha", "Ha-ha-ha", "Ha-ha-ha", "Ha-ha-ha"
7 second pause

and the after that will happend what u Uhe support showed me on screen shot.

[chilly7]

Id delete some system critical files, display a nice message saying "software piracy is theft, have a nice day" , and reboot the 'unbootable' system.
then it will really be more convenient to buy software rather than crack it

that's equivalent to SWAT team arriving at your home with tanks and blowing everything up because you had a parking ticket (OK, even if you robbed or even killed someone). just because you did something wrong doesn't mean anything goes once you're caught. plus, detecting a crack isn't exact science, there are bound to be false positives. even a single user whos system was thrashed in error will make more damage to U-he than any cracks could ever hope to.

+1

[Burillo]

not really... your using 'reduction to absurdity' - my 'inconvenience' is fully recoverable from, as no user files are harmed (unlike a proper format) any competent IT person could fully recover the system, with no loss.

if you get beat up by cops, you can probably fully recover too. any competent medic can fix that. that doesn't mean cops should beat you up if they catch you shoplifting. again, i repeat - just because you're caught doing something wrong does not mean there is no limit to what should be done to you as a punishment. let alone the fact that i would oppose the sole fact that a *synth* developer is even considering the option of thrashing my system because he doesn't like something i do. even if it's me stealing from him. that's just not how things are done in a civil society. even the most invasive copy protections (e.g. FlexNet, PACE et al), with all of their invasiveness, don't do that crap.

[chk071]

If it was my software and I knew the illegal serials # , id be tempted to put out a new version with some 'special features' for these 'users'

We do a bunch of those. For instance, we sometimes place a big black dot in the middle of the UI. Clicking it opens your default webbrowser with our product page. We've got 250 unique page views from that alone from April 22 - May 22.

So really, the message is "it's more convenient to buy u-he software than to keep looking for cracks"

Just out of interest: Isn't it possible to bypass these? I would have thought so, if it is possible to bypass the copy protection in general.

[bmrzycki]

Just out of interest: Isn't it possible to bypass these? I would have thought so, if it is possible to bypass the copy protection in general.

Yes, if the software was coded with no expectation of disassembly or runtime inspection. On the other hand, If the author of the software is aware of the tools of the trade, clever changes can be made to make it hard for the people trying to get something for nothing.

[murnau]

who bypassed u-he copy protection? this are only blacklisted serials.. work of kiddies.

[Urs]

Just out of interest: Isn't it possible to bypass these? I would have thought so, if it is possible to bypass the copy protection in general.

Well, we're facing two different problems: Leaked serial numbers and cracks. Leaked serial numbers can be met with updates. We make updates that seem to work for a while but then, well, don't. In the meantime nobody knows which versions of our software worked with the leaked serials and which don't. So most of them blow up at some point, usually shortly before x-mas.

Cracks is a whole different story, and we found a very simple yet efficient answer: Analyse how users use the software (casual vs. power user) and only if it's a power user, do another 4-lines-of-code serial check (do so in 10 different areas, once a month or so). It's a simple heuristic, it's simple means, but they are damn hard to find for someone with a classical toolset (IDA Pro, OllyDbg etc.). Hence there has not been a working crack of a release version in 8 or so years. There has been a supposedly working crack once of a beta version a few years ago, but that has been long forgotten by the trackers and we had it removed from all filehosters.

Therefore we can proudly say: The only usable warez of our stuff is either buggy betas, or really, really old versions. Not much to worry about.

[chk071]

Sounds as if you're not making it easy to crack the software indeed. Thanks for the explanation.

[chilly7]

not really... your using 'reduction to absurdity' - my 'inconvenience' is fully recoverable from, as no user files are harmed (unlike a proper format) any competent IT person could fully recover the system, with no loss.

if you get beat up by cops, you can probably fully recover too. any competent medic can fix that. that doesn't mean cops should beat you up if they catch you shoplifting. again, i repeat - just because you're caught doing something wrong does not mean there is no limit to what should be done to you as a punishment. let alone the fact that i would oppose the sole fact that a *synth* developer is even considering the option of thrashing my system because he doesn't like something i do. even if it's me stealing from him. that's just not how things are done in a civil society. even the most invasive copy protections (e.g. FlexNet, PACE et al), with all of their invasiveness, don't do that crap.

+1

[Sendy]

Trashing computers that are thought to contain pirated software is just wrong, and dumb on so many levels. Any company caught doing this would be disowned in days once it came out. Look at all the furore about the accusations of Tone2's stuff "phoning home" (something I never experienced myself, but shit sticks, so they say).

Not only have you got false positives, you've also got people who used to crack but have gone legit, but accidentally have some traces of their past detectable on their system. Not only that, but you've got people who are currently running cracks but in the future may purchase - that possibility is gone once you've nuked them. In fact it will probably just make them respect developers even less and may recruit more to the cracked side, as they vow to crack all software to remove the nukes and "protect the people".

I don't like the way things are going with capitalism either. I don't like that I spend a month making a five minuite track and am expected to give it away, while cat pictures and people playing Super Mario World hacks and rambling about crap can be monetized. Physical labour is "worth" stuff while abstract things such as music and software are considered "a nation of creatives forced to share their work like communism while the rest of the world lives to the standard of capitalism" But at the end of the day, this is the world we've been dealt, and getting nasty about it isn't going to help anyone.

[sascha]

Trashing computers that are thought to contain pirated software is just wrong, and dumb on so many levels.

I am no lawyer, but to my knowledge this is something our local law system treats as 'Computersabotage', which is no trivial thing and can turn back at many times the cost of the underlying cause. It's actually covered by Criminal Code and is subject to imprisonment, depending on severity.