Messages

1

General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)

« on: September 28, 2009, 05:47 PM »

Thanks for your comments 40hz.

Innuendo - actually it's the software exe and not the installer that is secured but it's not important.

I appreciate the open discussion with you all.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)

« on: September 27, 2009, 06:20 AM »

Actually I have a Google Alert send me links when our company name appears online to keep up-to-date contact with users of our software or anyone complaining in order to "better" the experience as you would with a focus group.

It also helps where someone posts a problem they are experiencing instead of emailing our support team for any assistance and we can still offer them support and hopefully leave information on a forum for others to find if they experience the same problem.

So this is nothing to do with publicity or any such thing.

I'm not sure how many other companies are prepared to do the same thing for essentially individuals with a problem but hopefully it will give off the message that we do care about the software consumers enough to ensure that everyone who purchases software with our DRM has a good experience and can get full use of the software they purchased.

Innuendo - I will agree with you when you say that DRM can affect the stability of a secured title because the software is developed without DRM in mind and only post production it is added. Adding any external new code to another product is likely to have some kind of affect. This occasionally happens but in our case this is fixed long before any public release of a title. There are rare occasions where this may still happen to users due to some strange system software or hardware setup but we then do our best to fix the issue for them or refund their purchase so they do not lose money for nothing. We are not trying to steal money from people.

I hope this is informative.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)

« on: September 21, 2009, 08:45 AM »

I really don't want to get into a debate about this as everyone is entitled to their opinion and I am sure that no matter what I would say it is not going to change yours.

I will add though that we haven't found in any case that adding our DRM to a publisher's software has reduced their sales so the DRM isn't losing any business. Those that generally pirate will continue to do so or find something else to pirate. Where our DRM helps is for casual piracy where people purchase a legit copy and pass it onto friends, family or work colleagues. Here we find that it does help increase sales.

We don't force our clients to use our DRM and they are free contractually to stop using us if they are not happy with the solution so no-one is trapped into anything. We offer a service which publishers are happy with and one that their customers are happy with.

There are always some who will complain no matter what. There are always some that will experience a technical issue whether there is DRM or not and they will complain. It's the nature of many people to vocalize the negatives and far rarer to vocalize the positives.

In any case - if you choose not to use any DRM protected software it is your choice to make but maybe some positive experiences will someday change your mind.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)

« on: September 21, 2009, 08:07 AM »

Softwrap have been operating for more than a decade so I would hope that the services would continue. With most DRM companies, if they had to shut down their servers, I would assume and hope that the publishers using the DRM would immediately make available a new version for old customers to download and use so don't see this as a problem. You can do this with digital distribution as the costs are minor.

There are hackers trying to crack all DRM solutions almost everyday so essentially far more work being done to undo it than to ensure it is secure. We just have to do our best to curb the amount of piracy and also ensure the software remains user friendly. Those that pirate software will not get regular free upgrades or software support for those versions. There is also a large amount of pirated software that are also used to spread viruses so I would be a little careful when surfing for illegal software.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)

« on: September 21, 2009, 07:55 AM »

They can re-activate 2 additional times without any questions. This is usually more than enough for those that change to a new PC or reformat their PC.

If they use up those licenses a simple email to support will get them back on track.

Unfortunately we cannot de-activate licenses remotely to free them up as that would require Softwrap to connect and change the user's PC which many would see as some kind of malware. It's  finding the balance which is hardest.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Complaint: Softwrap (nasty eula)

« on: September 21, 2009, 07:17 AM »

Just to give you some feedback on Softwrap as the DRM has progressed as it needs to over time.

The EULA is in place and follows the legal lines for software installation.

The technology will allow you to purchase and activate on your PC and with the same license you can activate it two more times if your PC crashes or for any normal reason.

If you use up your two additional activations, you can simply email [email protected] with your licensing details and they can re-set it to allow you to activate further times. The control is put on so that users cannot place their license details online for others to activate for free or for them to purchase 1 license and activate the software on any number of PC's in their office.

We are not looking to make owning software difficult and if you have an internet connection activation takes 5 seconds. Unfortunately there are just too many people who share keys and software illegally and legitimate companies are losing a lot of money which they spend on development and marketing and deserve to earn this back.

I would like to think that Softwrap looks after customers who use their DRM and our support team are friendly and efficient in doing this. Our intentions are not to penalise the honest users and work hard to keep our solution very user friendly.