Executing Encrypted Code

[Andrew Loewenstern]

I think this whole idea of encrypted software and processors is pretty poorly  
thought out.  How do you handle an organization with a site license for  
20,000 users of a piece of software?  Do you issue 20,000 unique copies?  Do  
you really think the lower price of the software is going to offset the cost  
of an organization to manage all those processor certificates?  Site licensed  
software is already about as cheap as the companies are willing to sell it.   
How about the extra hard drive space you have to purchase because you can't  
just keep one copy on a server anymore?  Think about what a nightmare it would  
be to update a piece of software on 20,000 machines simultaneously!!  It's  
hard enough to do it now!!

What happens if a software company goes out of business?   You are then  
completely screwed when your processor dies or becomes obsolete.  Around here  
we still run a few pieces of ancient hardware that were pretty pathetic back  
in 1988.  The software on them is critical but won't run on anything else and  
there is no source code available.  Believe me, nobody here would dare to make  
that mistake again!!!  At least with our current situation if the hardware  
dies we would probably be able to find a replacement (and I'm sure there are  
some replacements waiting in the stock room...).  But with your encrypted  
processor we couldn't even do that!

It seems to me that this is yet another scheme that basically does nothing  
but seriously inconvenience the software user.  Much like clipper, I believe  
this is a dog that won't hunt!!

Perhaps instead of trying to find a way to force users into paying, software  
companies should concentrate on how offer more value and make their prices  
seem more attractive.  Even with piracy, the software industry is far and away  
the most profitable of all!!


andrew