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What do I do now?

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JavaJones:
Great advice from Jan-S, for sure. Especially re: advertising (many people make the mistake of "the more visitors the better!" when what you really want are *interested* visitors) and re: download of full version only after reg.

- Oshyan

mouser:
the one thing i'd disagree with above is the comment about making your own registration/protection system..

we made our own just because we have special needs and dont care too much about preventing people from illegally using our programs since the motivation for them to do so is so minimal.  but if you are serious about protecting your software, i would not recommend using your own homemade system.  the work involved cannot possibly justify the outcome.  id recommend something like asprotect, armadillo, execryptor, etc.

i'd also suggest you consider carefully how much you want to worry about such issues..

just keep in mind that while jan-s makes a good point:
In order to protect the software from being cracked, you may consider offering a freely downloadable demo version with some features disabled (i.e. the related code is not even compiled into the demo) and offer the full version for customers only. This is simple, but uncrackable..
--- End quote ---

but you might also want to listen to zaine's rant in the last podcast against crippleware (http://podcast.donationcoder.com), since it discusses the downside/caveats to bear in mind when taking this approach.

you need to strike a balance between protecting your program and making life pleasant for your real users.

remember that your objective when selling software is to find those potential happy customers and get them as customers.  the hardest part is almost always letting these people know about your software and convincing them to give you a look.  so make that your #1 concern.  everything else should serve that.  if protecting your software prevents a few people who never were going to buy your software anyway, while alienating real potential customers, then you've failed.

JavaJones:
Why though? You can code a simple "enter serial # otherwise the software doesn't work" system fairly quickly. It only takes time when you try to make it clever. But the only people you're trying to beat by doing so are the crackers who you can not beat. Period. If enough people want something badly enough it will be cracked. It doesn't matter what the protection is.

I don't know, maybe the solutions you mention are worth the cost and not that expensive. I just remember my days at a games publisher and our company spending 100's of 1000's of dollars on Safedisc and similar systems and seeing our games come out the day they were released, or even earlier. There was a general Safedisc crack for a long time and we were still releasing games using it. It just seemed like such a total waste of money.

I've known several authors who have made their own systems and it seems to have worked well for them. But again if any of the systems you mention are not stupidly expensive than they may be worth it. Just keep in mind I am not suggesting programming a similar system on your own. I am saying that it doesn't matter whether your system is simple or complex, it deters the same level of user, and the rest will get your software if they want to. :D So you might as well use a simple system that is inexpensive or free, whether you code it yourself or not.

- Oshyan

mouser:
i would agree with most of your comments, but the programs i mentioned are all in the $100 - $300 range.
think about how long it would take you to write a reasonable system and what that means you are paying per hour.
lots of programmers enjoy writing their own registration/protection systems, and if thats the case, then go for it.

my main advice to people would be - don't worry so much about it.  save yourself some energy and buy one of the commercial products for < $300 and dont waste your energy being overly paranoid.  if some people get your software for free they aren't likely to be potential customers and so they aren't worth your worries.  concentrate on getting out the word to your real potential customers instead.

JavaJones:
Yep, good advice. I checked out the prices after I posted and they are quite reasonable methinks. I wasn't aware of those before, so I stand corrected. :)

- Oshyan

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