Well it wouldnt bring the price down to leave it out…but it would stay lower in the first place i’d say. Syntheyes doesnt get floating licenses for that very reason. Russ says to add floating licensing would mean he would have to almost double the price (Syntheyes is bloody cheap heh) and that ppl are usually better of simply buying another license…and i gotta say he is right there The main reason beeing he couldnt do it himself but would have to license it (just like Chaos did with Wibu i assume)…
Well the word on the street is V-Ray 1.5 can’t be cracked. Someone registered onto my site and added a rss feed to their site, which was a site that dealt with pirated software. I found this out because I did a search for v-ray tutorials (or something, I forget) and my site came up on the first page. I would post the site, but I don’t went anybody tempted with all those free apps . Anyway the tread was people complainig that V-RAY 1.5 has been out for month’s and why hasn’t anybody cracked it?
They have, just not the full version. it’s easier to crack the demo - when you can remove the limitations and make it identical apart from some text at the top, there’s no need to do any extra work trying to bypass the dongle.
Those people complaining are collectors of warez, which is why they make the distinction. I’d guess around 60% of people who download pirate software hardly ever use it, if at all. They just want to own something that they shouldve paid for.
I doubt it is uncrackable. Its probably too small profile for hackers to give it much effort.
But along similar lines of this thread, have you read about the huge litigious blunder that Autodesk made, and its implications for software licensing?
Interesting… So maybe warez is not so much if an issue. For me I had the demo for a while, but since it was free I did not put much effort into using it. When we forked over the money for pro I had to learn it or live with the fact that we just wasted money.
Not on the scale it could be, but for vlado any lost money is probably a big issue. I’d guess 30% of the remaining 40 are students/people learning/hobbyists (non-profit stuff) and then you’ve got 10% made up of freelancers and small firms using it to actually make money.
I did however just pull those numbers out of my ass based on what i’ve seen around though.
I’ve heard similar complaints. Apparently someone did some kind of .dll crack for the SP2, but they say it’s really slow.
I, for one, can’t be bothered with looking for a cracked version. At work I have a full license and at home I use my sister’s educational license.
But I am familiar with the story about a wealthy man not wanting to pay for a full license of software… It annoys the hell out of me because as a user, you can’t really get support in case you need it.
I don’t think the Autodesk ruling would have any affect on Chaosgroup. Their software is distributed by download. The Autodesk issue came about when they tried to stop someone from re-selling original software discs by arguing that they sell licenses, rather than software. And they lost.
If the ruling stands on appeal, it will potentially affect any media you purchase on disc including music and movies. Essentially the “shrink-wrap” EULA becomes meaningless…
It IS uncrackable. I know this because i’ve used it, because i’m a dirty butt-pirate thief who wanted to learn it at home while still using crusty old Lightwave at work, and then getting a job using Max/V-Ray. Anyway, I think ChaosGroup chose the WIBU dongle because it’s one of the less easy ones to crack. The cracked demo is crippled, so aside from that ++++ text up the top, you can tell all those people still using RC4 aren’t within 20 feet of a dongle.
I know there’s a lot of people that complain about Steam but I love it. I download the small app on my computer at work, and can download and install all the games I’ve paid for and play here after hours. No worrying about lost CDs or reg codes. I don’t know numbers, but I’m sure it’s helped curb piracy a little. It’s not impossible to crack, but a lot of people don’t want to take the risk of a lifetime ban if they get caught. I know several people that pirate every game they play, except Steam games. It’s just too much hassle and risk they say.
Someone needs to do something similar for productivity and graphic apps.
I have to agree with gilpo here.
When I bought Half Life 2 I still got the DVD package (OrangeBox ftw!) but Steam is a really good program and works pretty good.
Because the problem still remains - how do you enforce it. If such a thing were released, everyone would display it, and the appropriate authority isn’t going to go around investigating every person and business who chooses to display the logo. The second thing is this vs. and MSCE logo. One is a symbol of achievement, the other is a logo of decriminalization. You could put up a logo saying “I don’t have a police record” too, but it looks utterly unprofessional. If someone is employing your services then they either place faith in you or not.
Steam is cool, but people would be more willing to circumvent it to get $5000 programs than a $50 game. Also if they circumvent it once and there is some kind of lifetime ban, they’re circumvent it for every other program on there that they want. If they ever go legit and can afford the $5000 for whatever, they can sure afford the $50 to change ISP.
“if it runs, it can be cracked” it’s a very old motto of the warez scene.
And it holds very true, historically.
What must be pissing these people off has to be the newer versions releases.
Every few months a new version’s out, it works transparently for the user, but in the meantime Vlado can have taken a look at the previous crack, shuffled some bits of code around, and rendered that invalid.
And they have to start from scratch, which may not be very easy, especially as some not so obvious safes are built in the code (see the speed issues).
It probably boils down to too much work, hey.
As stated before by the man himself, chaos didn’t choose WIBU to protect, as much as to make easier to enable and share licenses for the legit users.
The main reason beeing he couldnt do it himself but would have to license it (just like Chaos did with Wibu i assume)…
. Anyway the tread was people complainig that V-RAY 1.5 has been out for month’s and why hasn’t anybody cracked it?