His work / findings always make for an interesting read
The Pinball Construction Kit writeup is a good one, least not because even after studying it he has no idea how it would even be possible to write or master a disk with that protection in the first place.. also the way the copy protection routine runs in it's own bytecode language..
> *feel free to move to loony bin section if post doesn't belong here*
>
> 4AM's ongoing work.
>
> https://twitter.com/a2_4am/status/845655222408134657
>
>
> The old 1980s era "preachy" thingy as shown by 4AM's work. It is understandable of
> why it was done then, but just an overkill version when trying to get the message
> across imo. Just have text with "Please buy product and after 5 years has gone by and
> product is no longer available, then grab a bootleg copy". The money opportunity is
> usually within first 5 year window frame unless the product is a successful hit, but
> very few software game products reached beyond the 5 year window frame.
>
> Some of those old SPA (software publishers association) figures from 1980s seemed
> suspect....like overinflating numbers imo.
>
>
> iirc during 1980s and 1990s when buying software meant traveling to a computer
> store, the fiscal impact was more with stores only allowing anywhere from a month or
> two at most with game titles allowing to take up shelf space before being disposed
> of. There wasn't much time allowed with various titles to earn money inside a store's
> premise because especially game titles were continuously being shuffled around and
> disappeared within a couple weeks. It didn't leave much time for software game titles
> to earn money. Maybe Flight Simulator and Zork series managed to not get lost along
> with other game software.
>
>
> The only business software products that managed to hang around were products dBASE,
> Lotus 123, Word Perfect, any M$ software product, and Peter Norton's Utilities. And
> also some popular Apple software products (not familiar with names)
>
>
> -
> HI THERE, THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL SOFTWARE USERS. IF YOU WISH TO SKIP IT JUST
> HIT Z HIT RETURN
>
> I'M SCOTT ADAMS PRESIDENT OF AI (ADVENTURE INTERNATIONAL) AND AUTHOR OF THE ADVENTURE
> SERIES.
>
> I WANT TO CHAT ABOUT SOFTWARE PIRACY FOR A MOMENT, AND THEN WE'LL GET ON WITH THE
> MAIN EVENT.
>
> THE SOFTWARE YOU'RE ABOUT TO ENJOY TOOK CONSIDERABLE TIME, EFFORT & MONEY TO DEVISE.
> WE'VE A LARGE STAFF HERE AND MANY AUTHORS WORLDWIDE.
>
>
> [source: Scott Adams Graphic Adventure #6 "Strange Odyssey", Apple II edition, ©1982
> Adventure International]
> --
|
Previous 
Index 
Next 
Flat 
Re: "Oh noes"
Reply
