Thread: .NET Anti Piracy Code?

I am fascinated by what @mline and @germ had to say.

I understand that the real smart cookies don't use off-the-shelf software which every tom,dick and harry has. I also understand why they don't let tom,dick and harry have access to such powerful software.

The software tools that are publicly available always seem to lack certain desirable features or are buggy as hell, which why they are sold at a low price to the masses. It must be great to have something custom designed that nobody else has and works well.

It's like comparing a Rolls Royce to an old banger.

amen, brother



That I can most definitely attest to. I see some tools for sale by some sites for, let's say $50 and wonder why they aren't selling it for at least $500. Then I download and demo and find out. I don't release a tool or suite to my partners unless it has been rigorously debugged to the ends of hell lol. Generally any fully automated system I, or a good few other fairly high level developers I've had the pleasure to work with over the years, will run, multi-threaded for up-times that can be measured in weeks and months. Then you see platforms for sale getting into the $1000 area. They should be selling for 10 times more, and if made properly and less...well, whored out, would return your investment in 2 weeks tops. I have been toying with the idea of making some of mine and my partner's software available as invite only web services with some method of payment based on usage amount. Though, for now, that's just more just a musing. Mostly I think it would just be amazingly fun designing its architecture.

If your releasing to a few people, why not just make them your friends and tell them to not hand them out? Unless you dont trust your friends?

If you have a proper version of Visual Studio, it comes with Dotfuscator built in (you can get it separately aswell).

Use this and obfuscate your code. For the most part its not going to do much, i mean... People can still use it. The biggest thing is people just install xammp and get around whatever web calls you may use. So that stuffs up everything.

If you get the full version of dotfuscator, it also obfuscates strings, which is a small help when people are using reflection to read your code.

The biggest thing i can say, is if your selling software. Keep updating. Keep changing the callbacks to a different URL, a different website, requesting different things. And then it just becomes a chore for people to work out what you changed. You have to remember aswell, ONE person cracks it, then 100 people use it. If you change one tiny thing, that ONE person has to crack it. Mean while those other 100 people just sit there whining and will eventually buy.

the devil is always in the details. your vetting process for software is orders of magnitude above most other people i have dealt with. glad to see you can put your OCD to such positive use.

cracking really is a challenge for individuals or small teams in our industry. i've seen more good software get beat out by being stolen or cracked than i care to recall. consequently this is also why i rarely do any outside projects, the risk of your work getting plastered all over existence is just too high. the time constraints of adding proper and comprehensive copy protection are great as well and that has to be considered with the caveat that nothing is ever 100% secure. if large corporations like microsoft and adobe with millions of dollars and teams of people brighter than i am can't get something a 17 year old with a few basic tools can't break my chances are abysmally slim.

another thing to consider is that the poorer quality software tools related to our industry tend to use a ham fisted tactic to accomplish their means. there is something to be said about using a light touch with a bit of finesse to make your money. it attracts much less attention making your life easier in the long run. so combine brute force with widespread distribution and you get problems.

that's why having a SaaS style solution is so appealing. not only can you control distribution but also volume, this let's you dictate the influx of advertising while guaranteeing your service fee.

The best way to keep your software is broken, not to make known to all. See how the top software from Microsoft, Adobe, etc. quickly get cracked all the time, so something definitely not leave cookies.