4 ms·

Funny, that never worked on me... It always read the cracker name instead of mine :P

by hackan 3y ago

LeoPanthera 3y ago
In my experience, most of the people happily using cracked software were either kids, or the hopelessly immoral, and it wasn't worth chasing after either of those categories.
- mikecoles 3y ago
  "most people", I agree. Being a broke kid, I recall trying to figure out how to break different schemes. BBS Doors were my main target. I was horrible at it, but some things were learned. I was hired as computer assembly tech at a local computer store when young. There was a customer that was frequently delinquent. The boss asked me to write a program to encrypt the hard drive if the customer hadn't paid. This customer had a business so I was very nervous about my lack of confidence in being certain their data was not lost. To compromise, only filenames and extensions were changed. IIRC, the bill was receive a payment weekly. Once the money was received, a code was given to the customer. This code would update a file on their system. If, after two weeks, no payment was received, the code would recurse through the directories and rename data files with a simple XOR. This would allow files to be recovered manually if needed. I'm not certain, but I think this was done in dbase 2000. It was the only compiler we had access to at the time.
- schlipity 3y ago
  Hopelessly immoral? I've used plenty of cracked software in my younger days and not once did I consider it immoral in the least. Some people just draw a line in the sand in a different place for software. I just don't care at all about someone's "lost potential revenue". I consider it to be the same as skipping commercials with watching TV, or adblocking the web today.
  - LeoPanthera 3y ago
    > younger days > I just don't care at all I stand by what I said, I guess.
    - Brian_K_White 3y ago
      I think the point is that you don't get to just declare what defines "hopelessly immoral". An argument could be made that inflicting drm on everyone who is not a theif, and all posterity long after any legal or moral copyright has expired yet the thing is still encrypted or broken, is hopelessly immoral. That comment did not prove you right.
  - grishka 3y ago
    It even feels alien to me when someone claims to feel bad for pirating something. Most of the time it's just so much easier. And no please don't start on the usual "it's like stealing from a physical store". It's not. Stealing implies that the owner loses something.

Funny, that never worked on me... It always read the cracker name instead of mine :P

by hackan 3y ago

Funny, that never worked on me... It always read the cracker name instead of mine :P

In my experience, most of the people happily using cracked software were either kids, or the hopelessly immoral, and it wasn't worth chasing after either of those categories.

mikecoles 3y ago
"most people", I agree. Being a broke kid, I recall trying to figure out how to break different schemes. BBS Doors were my main target. I was horrible at it, but some things were learned. I was hired as computer assembly tech at a local computer store when young. There was a customer that was frequently delinquent. The boss asked me to write a program to encrypt the hard drive if the customer hadn't paid. This customer had a business so I was very nervous about my lack of confidence in being certain their data was not lost. To compromise, only filenames and extensions were changed. IIRC, the bill was receive a payment weekly. Once the money was received, a code was given to the customer. This code would update a file on their system. If, after two weeks, no payment was received, the code would recurse through the directories and rename data files with a simple XOR. This would allow files to be recovered manually if needed. I'm not certain, but I think this was done in dbase 2000. It was the only compiler we had access to at the time.
schlipity 3y ago
Hopelessly immoral? I've used plenty of cracked software in my younger days and not once did I consider it immoral in the least. Some people just draw a line in the sand in a different place for software. I just don't care at all about someone's "lost potential revenue". I consider it to be the same as skipping commercials with watching TV, or adblocking the web today.
- LeoPanthera 3y ago
  > younger days > I just don't care at all I stand by what I said, I guess.
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
    I think the point is that you don't get to just declare what defines "hopelessly immoral". An argument could be made that inflicting drm on everyone who is not a theif, and all posterity long after any legal or moral copyright has expired yet the thing is still encrypted or broken, is hopelessly immoral. That comment did not prove you right.
- grishka 3y ago
  It even feels alien to me when someone claims to feel bad for pirating something. Most of the time it's just so much easier. And no please don't start on the usual "it's like stealing from a physical store". It's not. Stealing implies that the owner loses something.