I found pirated Uhe software

[thetechnobear]

Its seems some cannot (or choose not to) read…

Anyway, its in jest, as you say its not worth any one company taking the risk...

I stated this after the first response, which clearly did not take it this way.
(I thought the smiley at the end, would have made it clear, obviously not - sorry for that!)
As a professional programmer, I would not really put in such code, for too many real reasons to list.

Im only responding now, as some of the 'arguments' here, are simply absurd/ridiculous.

more seriously, abique, I suggest you read the full wikipedia article! (not that wikipedia necessarily represents the truth) - software cracking/hacking is not some kind of 'liberation'.
We have open source for this. I regularly contribute to open source efforts, and that is MY choice… other software I write pays for my food to live on… my choice!
If you don't like the protection mechanism I choose, don't buy my software, simple and legal.
(I have this attitude to iLok etc)

These 'cracking' efforts (and sites) are often linked to other criminal activities.
Urs already highlighted in this thread, the u-he cracks, are serial numbers acquired from stolen credit cards.. this is not some clever kid disassembling code in his bedroom for fun.
(stolen credit cards are linked to all sorts of very serious crimes and inhumane activities.)

Also, when you download cracked code, you open yourself up to a host of issues, most of these sites are full of viruses, and trojan horses etc.
If a coder is able to to modify the code to remove security check, he is more than capable of including a time bomb, to trash your computer, install a virus… access your private data and distribute if for criminal purposes.

So sorry, if you seriously thought I was suggesting that software companies should destroy your computer… I didn't.
But please do not defend these 'cracks', they serve no purpose and are likely to cause damage to people using them, the industry and others.

Finally, a (young or old) musician does not need expensive tools to produce the music, its possible to produce 'the next big thing' with freeware/open source if you have the talent. (want != need)

hopefully we can all agree on the above - have a nice day

[chilly7]

If a coder is able to to modify the code to remove security check, he is more than capable of including a time bomb, to trash your computer, install a virus… access your private data and distribute if for criminal purposes.

That is a very good point!!!

[Kaboom75]

I reported a few youtube videos to Youtube support a year ago. Videos showing you how to steal u-he software and Youtube support said they are not breaking any youtube rules.
unbelievable!

[Urs]

I reported a few youtube videos to Youtube support a year ago. Videos showing you how to steal u-he software and Youtube support said they are not breaking any youtube rules.
unbelievable!

hehehe, don't get me started on Google's business model...

[standalone]

If a coder is able to to modify the code to remove security check, he is more than capable of including a time bomb, to trash your computer, install a virus… access your private data and distribute if for criminal purposes.

Or even taking control of your computer's camera and uploading a video to Future Music.

Ask Avicii, Martin Garrix, John Dahlback, Aoki .........

[Delfinoverde]

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.

From YOUR point of view all seems right… but it's not all true what you write.
There have been a lot of successfully cracked U-he Plug-Ins around (just google!).
Most folks don't really care if they're BETAs or not, as long they can make music with them.
I don't think that a more-or-less small developer can change the goals of Reverse Engineers.
At the same time I respect genuine, realistic views of honest developers.

[sascha]

There have been a lot of successfully cracked U-he Plug-Ins around (just google!).

As always in life, one shouldn't believe blindly what people write on the Internet. 'successfully' is such a thing.
We know our stuff best, so we're on the safe side when we say the cracks don't work. We also know how to reverse engineer. Just because stuff pops up right away and makes sound doesn't mean much at all.

[standalone]

In other words, stay tuned to your screen, Delfinoverde.

[Urs]

The guy is slightly off. Thinks he knows something or someone important in the reverse engineering scene. But alas, there is noone important in that scene. I even doubt there is something worth calling a scene.

[chilly7]

There have been a lot of successfully cracked U-he Plug-Ins around (just google!).

As always in life, one shouldn't believe blindly what people write on the Internet. 'successfully' is such a thing.
We know our stuff best, so we're on the safe side when we say the cracks don't work. We also know how to reverse engineer. Just because stuff pops up right away and makes sound doesn't mean much at all.

+1

[Urs]

If anyone is interested, I checked traffic from "expired demos" a week ago. We had about 250 unique visitors which we could match to 20 or so sales. That's pretty consistent with previous months. So we actually make 2000 bucks from people who thought that our stuff was cracked. Each month. And that's only those who click the buy now link in the software.

In the meantime I think we have 10 different "delayed checks" in our software, each taking up 10-30 lines of code and no measurable CPU. The most of these checks that was ever cracked away was 4, by Team R2R, who since gave up on us, like Assign, Beat, something with D, something with A, Union, AiR and god only knows who before.

As I said, the only thing out there that's usable is an old beta with a crash bug. Good luck working with that

[liquidsound]

From YOUR point of view all seems right… but it's not all true what you write.

Says who?

(just google!)

GOOGLE???!!!


According to "google" you are a misspelled restaurant

[chk071]

If anyone is interested, I checked traffic from "expired demos" a week ago. We had about 250 unique visitors which we could match to 20 or so sales. That's pretty consistent with previous months. So we actually make 2000 bucks from people who thought that our stuff was cracked. Each month. And that's only those who click the buy now link in the software.

In the meantime I think we have 10 different "delayed checks" in our software, each taking up 10-30 lines of code and no measurable CPU. The most of these checks that was ever cracked away was 4, by Team R2R, who since gave up on us, like Assign, Beat, something with D, something with A, Union, AiR and god only knows who before.

As I said, the only thing out there that's usable is an old beta with a crash bug. Good luck working with that

Sounds almost like you guys are making a sport out of this. But good job really. Just hope that it's not too time consuming. On the other hand it's always a cost/benefit calculation i guess.

[murnau]

There have been a lot of successfully cracked U-he Plug-Ins around (just google!).

As always in life, one shouldn't believe blindly what people write on the Internet. 'successfully' is such a thing.
We know our stuff best, so we're on the safe side when we say the cracks don't work. We also know how to reverse engineer. Just because stuff pops up right away and makes sound doesn't mean much at all.

that only shows me what i already know: most of this "users" don't recognized the crack dont work because they only collect and dont use the stuff regulary.

this leaves me to the 2nd point: most of this "users" would never buy something because they don't use it at the end: it doesn't matter if there's a crack around or not.

and yes the scene is dead and thats a good thing.

[Delfinoverde]

The guy is slightly off. Thinks he knows something or someone important in the reverse engineering scene. But alas, there is noone important in that scene. I even doubt there is something worth calling a scene.

And WHO you think you are? Some sort of genius software sheriff/cowboy?
Who says that the latest o-so-protected U-hes haven't been cracked?
Only because they haven't been published doesn't mean nothing.
But please believe what you like to believe…