Software Piracy Protection
* I'm not sure if this is the correct forum, if not, mods, please feel free to move.
* I am not asking for this information for any illegal purposes. However, mods, if you feel that this thread should be deleted, feel free to do that, also.
My parents live in a very small town in a very rural part of my state, but the recently moved there from the largest city in the state. While they were still in the city, my dad bought a copy of Acrobat 5, but inadvertantly picked up the upgrade instead of the full version. He realized this after he moved, and while I was visiting them at their new home. Since the store that he bought the software from does not exist anywhere near them, he asked if I would return it for him, and pick up the full version. I said sure.
So I go home, pick up the full version, I go home, and open my mailbox. I pull out my mail, and it looks like they had run over it a couple of times with a cement truck. So I think to myself, if they can't get a letter to my house from across town in one piece, am I going to actually trust them to send $300 worth of software across the state? Hell no.
So I open up the box, make a copy of the installation CD (It's the PC version, if that makes any difference), make a copy, and mail that off to my dad, planning to take him the real copy the next time I visit.
All is well, until a couple of days later, when he calls me, saying he couldn't get the CD to work.
So I pop the real CD into my boyfriends computer to run him though the installation (I do this so that I can tell him exactly what the buttons say, so as not to confuse him anymore, not to give my boyfriend a copy of the software). Eventally, I find that whatever the installer is called, for arguments sake, I'll pretend it was acrobat.exe, was just called acrobat on his copy. the .exe had disappeared. Other files still had their extentions, however. I though that was odd, but figured that's why the autorun didn't work, because it couldn't find the .exe file. So I tell him to launch that. He does, all is well, until the installation is almost over, and it can't find some help files. I assume that the extentions disappeared on these too, but don't have a clue where to find them. So I get pissed off, and tell him I'll just overnight the real CD to him.
Luckily, It got there in one piece.
But this pissed me off. Why shouldn't I be able to make a back up of my software? I shouldn't be penalized if my installation CDs are destroyed in a fire or something, should I?
Sorry, this is so long, but my questions are these:
Is there anyway around this problem?
How are the extentions of select files disappearing?
Does this happen to Mac CDs too, or just PC?
* I am not asking for this information for any illegal purposes. However, mods, if you feel that this thread should be deleted, feel free to do that, also.
My parents live in a very small town in a very rural part of my state, but the recently moved there from the largest city in the state. While they were still in the city, my dad bought a copy of Acrobat 5, but inadvertantly picked up the upgrade instead of the full version. He realized this after he moved, and while I was visiting them at their new home. Since the store that he bought the software from does not exist anywhere near them, he asked if I would return it for him, and pick up the full version. I said sure.
So I go home, pick up the full version, I go home, and open my mailbox. I pull out my mail, and it looks like they had run over it a couple of times with a cement truck. So I think to myself, if they can't get a letter to my house from across town in one piece, am I going to actually trust them to send $300 worth of software across the state? Hell no.
So I open up the box, make a copy of the installation CD (It's the PC version, if that makes any difference), make a copy, and mail that off to my dad, planning to take him the real copy the next time I visit.
All is well, until a couple of days later, when he calls me, saying he couldn't get the CD to work.
So I pop the real CD into my boyfriends computer to run him though the installation (I do this so that I can tell him exactly what the buttons say, so as not to confuse him anymore, not to give my boyfriend a copy of the software). Eventally, I find that whatever the installer is called, for arguments sake, I'll pretend it was acrobat.exe, was just called acrobat on his copy. the .exe had disappeared. Other files still had their extentions, however. I though that was odd, but figured that's why the autorun didn't work, because it couldn't find the .exe file. So I tell him to launch that. He does, all is well, until the installation is almost over, and it can't find some help files. I assume that the extentions disappeared on these too, but don't have a clue where to find them. So I get pissed off, and tell him I'll just overnight the real CD to him.
Luckily, It got there in one piece.
But this pissed me off. Why shouldn't I be able to make a back up of my software? I shouldn't be penalized if my installation CDs are destroyed in a fire or something, should I?
Sorry, this is so long, but my questions are these:
Is there anyway around this problem?
How are the extentions of select files disappearing?
Does this happen to Mac CDs too, or just PC?
Comments
Your post is long on incidental details and very short on pertinent facts.
What machine did you use to make the CD copy?
What software, under what OS?
<strong>tyler:
Your post is long on incidental details and very short on pertinent facts.
What machine did you use to make the CD copy?
What software, under what OS?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Spooky. you know my name.
Sorry, I get verbose sometimes, but the reason I included most of the "incidental details" was to prove that I'm not trying to pirate software here, in hopes that the thread won't be closed.
Made the copy on a PC, don't know the name of the software. 2 cd drives. copied it fromone to the other.
[Edit: Just checked. It's Easy CD Creator 4, on a Win98 machine.]
[ 09-07-2002: Message edited by: Stroszek ]</p>
At least in Italy - and here they are always harder towards the pirates:
YOU CAN MAKE A COPY OF YOUR PROGRAMMES FOR YOUR OWN BACKUP OR YOUR OWN USE.
So itself making a copy of a program, at least here, if you 'are doing it for yourself' is legally ok.
(no comments on how many copies fall into that category..)
and if you look at the license apple gave you with Jaguar, or everything else you buy from them, u would see that you are allowed to make ONE copy of your sys software for personal purposes.
and you can look at any other sofware licenses, in your case Adobe's.
<strong>...you are allowed to make ONE copy of your sys software for personal purposes...</strong><hr></blockquote>
so any ideas why I couldn't?
<strong>
so any ideas why I couldn't?</strong><hr></blockquote>
well there's a difference between doing something and allowed to.
It just looks that it didn't copy the CD right. maybe you could use another CD-Burner software, another CD-R...
or maybe ADOBE protected the CD a little bit...
edit: spulingh
[ 09-07-2002: Message edited by: Defiant ]</p>