Software, Activate!

So, to get those of you who ended up here accidentally while googling for something that is likely completely unrelated all caught up, I work with technology. Often times my job entails installing, managing, and supporting various pieces of software. It doesn't sound so bad, and truth be told it wouldn't be, except that I swear companies are bent on making life difficult for those of us who make using their software bearable for the average user. I could go into a laundry list of things that give me the rage about various pieces of software (and if you'd like to hear it, by all means let me know in the comments. I would love nothing more than to rant about things people actually care about), but, in this particular case I am focusing my laser beam of hatred at "anti-piracy measures", specifically "software activation", with a bit of spillover into DRM.

So, as a quick history lesson, a few years ago (around the turn of the millennium actually) some big name software vendors decided that in order to protect their software from the dreaded pirates, their best course of action was to inconvenience their paying customers. Truth be told, I don't know if their plan all along was to annoy their legitimate customers in an effort to "raise piracy awareness", or if it was just another retarded move businesses like to make to stroke their egos as they try to prove that customers will like what they tell them to like, but either way, well, you get the idea. Essentially the way this activation works, is that a combination of a few factors, usually your unique serial number and the hardware in your computer (size of your hard drive, amount of RAM, what cards are placed where on your motherboard, etc) generate a unique "installation ID". This ID is then sent to the product manufacturer and stored in their activation database. This supposedly ensures that you are not installing the same piece of software with the same license key on multiple machines. So thats activation in a nutshell.

Now, I should stop for a moment and note that I am all for businesses making money on the software they create. As such I am equally for people paying for the software they use. This isn't meant to be some rant about how I'm all upset because I can't pirate X or Y piece of software. In fact, I will argue that all this activation crap actually makes pirating software more appealing... but now I'm getting ahead of myself.

So, the problem comes when I get a new computer, or even just replace a part in my old computer (new hard drive, add more RAM), and I want to start using this piece of software on my new computer/configuration instead. When I uninstall a piece of software from my old computer, and then install it on my new one, guess what? Thats right, new hardware, same serial number. I must be trying to pirate it. Instantly, I am assumed to be a criminal. Guilty until proven innocent. So now, I have to call said company, explain to them that I got a new computer, etc. I not only have to prove to them that I am not guilty, but I have to get their permission to continue using the software that I own. Now, a lot of pundits will stop me there and say that I don't actually own the software, but I own a license to it, and that license is revocable, subject to the companies terms, blah blah blah. HONKEY. I say that when I pay money for something, one of my inalienable rights as a human being is to be able to use it fairly without the immediate assumption that I am a criminal.

So, back to my earlier argument that this actually encourages piracy. It is so much easier to install a "cracked" version of said program, that bypasses all this activation crap. When I want to install it on my new computer. I do just that. No cold lifeless robotic fingers pointing at me with accusations of theft. No praying that I didn't forget to "un-activate" my previous copy before I formatted the hard drive and donated it to charity. No need to install constant updates to the activation system, many of which now outright spy on what you do with your computer. No hassle whatsoever.

Businesses need to learn what I have coined as the 95/5 rule (or sometimes known as 'The Lowhanging Fruit Rule"). It is a very simple rule, and it goes like this. Do what you have to, to stop 95% of the population, but leave the other 5% be. I assure you, they are going to find a way around it. So when you go after them with your giant mallet, you are not only wasting tons of money and resources, which you then pass along to your legitimate customers in the price, but you are making your software infinitely more frustrating to use for those 95% of legitimate users, who are now paying extra for the privilege. All the while, the 5% of people you're trying to stop are not only still using it, but they're having a much better experience than everyone else, because they aren't dealing with your "anti piracy" crap.

As I mentioned at the start, this applies to all anti-piracy measures. DRM anyone? How annoying is it that if you want to put a song on your iPod, you have to do it from an "activated" computer, and you can only activate so many. Its far far easier to just get music (or tv shows, or movies) without the DRM. Because then you don't have to worry about it.

The bottom line here is this: invasive anti-piracy measures like software activation, DRM on movies and music, etc not only does not stop piracy, but actually makes it more appealing. Perhaps businesses will one day finally understand the words of our favorite princess of a galaxy far far away: "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."