A few days back we were discussing how to protect our software from unauthorized copying. After some discussion we came to a conclusion that we can "resist" hackers from unauthorized copying our software "very hard", but there may be no way for absolute copy protection, as all our software come down to 1s and 0s and we can reverse engineer our software, at least to assembly language level
Our Master Roberto hinted a new way for this:-
I (like many of my excellent friends) took his idea seriously. IMHO, this an ancestor of Open Source SoftwareRoberto Lopez wrote:IMHO, sooner or later the software will not be sold anymore. Such 'business model' will be definitively changed by support contracts that will be include the software installation/provision and maintenance.
I know very little about open source software. Only thing I am sure, here source will be open not free
Some points came to my mind:
1) This business model can be applied for customized software, where we shall charge for software development. Then we shall submit the application along with the source code to the client. And client has option to take the future service from us or any other software developers.
2) But, this is very difficult to apply when we are working on a general purpose software, which can be used by many clients without changing the software. Then what is the way
Thanks in advance for your views and comments on this topic.
With best regards.
Sudip