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[Paul Boddie]

Fuzzyman wrote:
> Paul Boddie wrote:

[Skype paper]

> > I'd recommend an
> > upgrade to any business plan which relies on obfuscation to prevent
> > "unauthorised" use or modification. Indeed, I'd recommend that any such
> > entrepreneur think twice about starting a traditional proprietary
> > software business in this day and age.
>
> How many users did skype have before that happened...
>
> Several orders of magnitude above what is required to earn a living
> from selling a few programs I suspect.

The point was that dreaming up exotic "protection" schemes for closed
source software is quite possibly only the highest priority in either a
highly traditional shrinkwrapped proprietary software business (where
the evidence - my spam folder - suggests that the "protection" is only
a marginally effective deterrent) or in some kind of proprietary
software plus services business where you don't want people tampering
with your infrastructure (where the evidence suggests that anyone
determined enough will force you to continually focus on that
"protection" scheme over the long-term).

So, if the questioner just wants to sell a few programs, they might
want to either consider different business models than those
traditionally envisaged, or they might want to be aware that fancy
"protection" is most likely to be a long-term investment yielding
moderately disappointing results, and that their energy is best
directed elsewhere.

Paul