Microsoft's new anti-piracy rules cracked within 24 hours

On Wednesday, Microsoft revamped their Windows Update service to disallow non-critical Windows updates to users of pirated copies of the OS. Yeah, yeah, I know... Old news.

Well, it was really old news by Thursday, when, within 24 hours of its release, hackers had already found a way around the new protection scheme using Internet Explorer and javascript. Read more about it at TheInquirer.net and MSNBC.com.

Giving your apps a more modern look

One of the more visual aspects of your application is the icon. Many people don't know the basics of icon creation, even though they could easily create their own, likely without any artistic experience.

To get you started, Microsoft has created an article called "Creating Windows XP Icons." It discusses using perspective and shading, and even tells you how to incorporate icons for lesser resolutions and lower OSes into your .ico files. Check it out on the MSDN Library site.

In the article, they recommend using Photoshop and GIF Movie Gear to construct your icons. They're way off base, in my opinion. Rather than blowing several hundred dollars on expensive tools that weren't built for icon design, it makes much more sense to get yourself a copy of Microangelo Creation, which has all the same icon-creation features and more, for just $54.95. Visit www.microangelo.com to download a demo.

Download of Windows Vista now available

Windows Vista has been released to developers in a private beta. You can download the fledgling operating system, formerly code-named Windows "Longhorn", from the MSDN download site. If you're not yet an MSDN member, you can get a one year subscription for 11% - 13% off the regular price at Amazon.com.

If you'd like to show support for Shareware Junction and the SWJN Blog, please use my Amazon affiliate links when ordering:

MSDN Professional $1069.99 - $129 off
MSDN Enterprise $1919.99 - $279 off
MSDN Universal $2429.99 - $369 off

Open-source goes awry?

One of the tenets of the open-source crowd is that bits are information, and information should be free. Going even further, many of the contributors have anti-corporate, or even anti-commercial, sentiments. I wonder how they'll feel when they come across Manay Software.

Manay is using nearly every sales trick in the book to harvest people's names, addresss, emails and phone numbers. In exchange, they'll send you CDs, one such set containing The GIMP, photos, clipart and fonts - likely all free or open-source software that's supposedly worth $229, retail. Who knows what Manay is doing with the information...? I have a hunch whatever it is won't make their customers happy.

The real question is, now that this precident is being set, how long will it be before every marketing "genius" on the internet uses open-source software as leverage to sign people up for their MLM program, harvest personal information or use it as a delivery vehicle for spyware, and what will that do for the reputation of open-source titles? Unfortunately for the open-source community, most developers haven't retained enough control over their intellectual property to do anything about it.

One thing's for sure. We certainly don't see this kind of issue with commercially licensed software, and I don't expect that we ever will.

Update - Jul 28, 2005
Armed with a temporary email address and a newly-generated virtual credit card number, I set out to get my free graphics CDs. It will be interesting to see what price I pay to receive my free discs (it has already begun with $4.95 shipping and handling). I'll post an update once I receive the products, and another within a week or two of that, to see if I have been spammed (or scammed) in any way.

Zero Spyware Banner

Some of you have been looking for button banners that state your program is free of spyware. I made two of these such banners (one for single product, one for multiple products). You're more than welcome to use one or both on your site.



Simply right click on the image you want and choose Save Picture As... in IE (use equivenlent in other browsers) to save the image to your local hard drive. Then just upload the image to your server and use it from your site. (Please only use it if your product truly does contain no spyware).

Note: The solid 1px border around the images is not part of the button banner. It is put there by blogger.com and won't show up on your site.

Update: I have added one new design using the words "Our Products Contain Zero Spyware", as well as smaller (115 x 44) versions of each.

Another careless spyware accusation

There's yet another careless accusation of shareware being the delivery vehicle for spyware. In this article, a clueless Bob Sullivan of MSNBC states that a current spyware program "slips onto most consumers' machines quietly, bundled with popular, free shareware programs."

It amazes me that someone who claims to be a specialist doesn't know that free downloadable software is called "freeware." Perhaps some of us should tell him about it.

GetAFile closes doors abandoning shareware authors

The file hosting service GetAFile has unexpectedly disappeared after its partner company, owned by Steve Lee, was acquired and separated from the venture. Many authors were left in the dark, wondering why their site, and the homepage at GetAFile.com, were no longer responding to requests.

There was a statement in the SWREG newsletter this morning in which Digital River stresses that they parted ways with GetAFile in March and, "Unfortunately Getafile has been closed down."

As someone who has been through these kinds of tragedies in the past, I can completely relate, and I send my deepest sympathies to those who have been abandoned. My file hosting company, SWMirror, is committed to getting your business back up and running in as little time as possible. We will do our best to get accounts set up within minutes of receiving your signup info. Please don't hesitate to email or call if you have any questions, whatsoever.

Here is a brief list of available file hosting services:

• Liquid Mirror's SWMirror
• Digital River's Filekicker
• Dewahost's FileBurst
• CacheFly's DownloadHosting

Updates:

• Thomas Warfield, owner of GoodSol Development and a former user of GetAFile, follows the money trail.
• Dave Collins, owner of Shareware Promotions and a GetAFile user, has also posted an entry on this subject in his blog.
• Sharon Housely of Notepage and the Software Marketing Resource reports on GetAFile in her blog, and asks us filehosts some tough questions. Keep an eye on her page for my "official" answer.

Microsoft urges us to "prepare" for IE7

Believe it or not, Internet Explorer 7 is imminent. Although, Microsoft won't give a specific release date, the beta is due out sometime this summer, and they're asking developers to prepare for the newest release of the popular browser. IE7 is already boasting new features such as tabbed browsing, an RSS reader, phishing defenses, some CSS support (rant forthcoming) and some undisclosed "developer platform enhancements."

So, what steps need to be taken to prepare for the release of IE7? If you use a browser "sniffer" or otherwise process the UserAgent, or, UA header sent by the browser, be sure your script can handle a 7.0 version of IE. At the very least, your script should behave gracefully when it comes across this previously-unknown version stamp. Most browser sniffers will simply degrade to the lowest-common-denominator when faced with an unknown UA. But it's best to test your site early. It's likely that the IE7 beta will be quite popular.

More can be read about the comments from Microsoft and a few anti-Microsoft web developers in this article from eWeek. More can be read about IE7 specifically in Microsoft's IE Blog at blogs.msdn.com/ie/.

Someone Said Your Mother's Ugly

Well, not quite, but they are insulting us as "shareware authors."

Some companies are profiting at the expense of the reputation of shareware. One of them happens to be SRC Technologies. By spreading sweeping generalities as fact, they are hoping to convince people that shareware programs contain spyware in an effort to increase their own sales.

In this release, published on July 18th, SRC Technologies says:

WHAT IS SPYWARE? Spyware is any software that gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without his or her knowledge. Spyware applications can generate from, opening emails, freeware, shareware, downloading games, downloading music and clicking pop-up ads.

And we wonder why some people think the term "shareware" has such negative connotations. Do you think they can name even one shareware application that installs spyware? If you want to find out, you can contact them at http://www.spybouncer.com/contactform.asp.

Piracy is Bad... Right?

Nothing in the world of a shareware author can be so angering, yet strangely flattering, as finding a crack for one's own software. The emotions run the gamut from disbelief, to shock, to dismay, to downright angst. And they're deserved emotions, because piracy is bad, right?

For years, there have been detractors in the industry — those who say that the BSA inflates their estimates, and that piracy isn't as bad as it's made out to be. Over the years, this has grown into a larger group who believes that we should concentrate only on "keeping the honest people honest." But recently, there has been a more extreme viewpoint taking hold.

There are an increasing number of publishers and authors who seem to believe that piracy may just facilitate another form of viral marketing, and that "pirates" are convertible into real, paying customers.

According to SafeNet's rights management specialist Prakash Panjwani, some software companies "have let piracy continue because it's great viral marketing."

Taking all this into consideration, the real question is, how can we convert them? Why would someone who has obtained a program for free, willingly pay for it? Chris Thornton thinks he has the answer, and it's called "shame."

While some of the "pirates" are the hardcore haxxors and diehard script kiddies who actually crack the programs, Chris is focusing on infringers such as the grandparents who don't realize they're stealing, or the parent whose child installed a program using an illegal serial number. Many of these people aren't aware that they're stealing, or they think what they've done is "victimless" and don't realize that serial numbers are often purchased with a stolen credit card.

When Thornsoft products detect a bogus key, the user is sent to a "Naughty Pirate" page, where the details of the fraud are spelled out (such as using a credit card acquired through identity theft). The user is even given a link to contemplate Commandment #8 — Thou Shalt Not Steal.

The turning point is when Chris tells them that all will be forgiven if they purchase a code. Not only that, but users will then have access to free technical support, and he promises that his legitimate unlock codes will work better than those obtained from hackers. Amazingly, he has converted a whopping 1.5% of all visitors to his Naughty Pirate page. That's more than many shareware authors' convert using standard marketing techniques.

So, the real question is, do we exploit pirates and use them to our own advantage to increase sales, or do we treat them like the thieves we all believe them to be? I mean, piracy is bad... right?

Pictures of Mike Stevenson at SIA banquet

As many of you know, my program Images: In Context! won the Best Photo Program or Utility award at the Shareware Industry Awards this year. I've put a few pictures (I only have three) that you can see here, if you're interested.

More SIC news

Well, according to Sharon Housely [Notepage, Software Marketing Resource], we're all a bunch of introverted geeks (I sure hope that quote was taken out of context ). In any case, there's a nice little write-up on this year's SIC here.

Google has uploaded imagery of the moon surface in commemoration of the anniversary of the first lunar landing at moon.google.com. Be sure to center on one of the landing sites and zoom all the way in... you'll be amazed at the level of detail and what you can see. This will be really useful if you happen to be travelling to the moon and need driving directions.

Congratulations to Thomas!

Please join in in congratulating Thomas Warfield on this 10th anniversary in Shareware. Pretty Good Solitaire was released on July 19th, 1995, and I'd say it's done more than "pretty good." You can check out Tom's site at www.goodsol.com. And I'm sure Gregg would like me to mention that Tom also publishes Pretty Good Majongg at www.goodmj.com. You can check out Tom's blog on this subject and many others at www.asharewarelife.com.

Congratulations Tom!

The Shareware Industry Awards Winners...

... and the People's Choice Awards Winners have been posted in Henk's SharewareBlogs.com blog.

SIC was a blast!

Well, I'm back from Shareware Industry Conference. What an awesome experience! Each one is better than the last (well, I've only been to two, so I'm not sure it's exactly a trend).

I arrived Wednesday afternoon at about 2:30 pm. The airport is about one hour away from downtown in the middle of nowhere. I was kept in great company by Hugh Gray, Mary Jo Castor and Gordon P. Turner, and Bernie Hoffman (who I don't think recognized any of us and slept the entire way). The hotel was very classy, and I arrived just in time for SIC registration.

That night at the Welcome Reception, I finally got to meet (a hairless) Brandon Staggs, who's a blast to hang out with. Other friends such as Gregg Seelhoff, Dexter Bell, Gary Elfring, Thomas Warfield also floated in and out of the conversations. The CoffeeCup guys were passing out purple bracelets for their party saying that you needed to wear them right away because they were going to be giving out iPods (unfortunately, I didn't win one).

The next three days were filled with great sessions (such as Dave Collins' session on Google AdWords, Gary Elfring's session on inexpensive packaging, and Microsoft's seminar where I think they learned more than we did), mediocre food, and awesome schmoozing.

The trip came to a climax on Saturday night with the Shareware Industry Awards banquet. There were some surprises (such as freeware and commercial software walking away with a few of the prizes), but the biggest surprise of all was mine. My program, Images: In Context! in the Best Photo Program or Utility category, was up against some heavy-hitters: Google Picasa 2, PentaSuite Digital Photo by Pentaware, and CoffeeCup Pix Converter by CoffeeCup Software. Faced with this heavy competition, I didn't think my little program - just five months old - had any chance. So I was absolutely floored when they announced Images: In Context! as the Best Photo Program or Utility for 2005. I'm still not exactly certain what I said when I was on stage, but I'm assured that I didn't look like too much of an ass. After a few drinks with friends in the bar, I made my way upstairs, packed my things, and slept for a few hours before my relatively peaceful flight home.

All-in-all, it was a great experience and I can't wait until next year.

When I got home, the first thing I did was hug my kids and rush them out the door to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I guess not everything this week could be fantastic. ;-)

Welcome to the new Shareware Junction blog

Welcome to the new Shareware Junction blog. Here, I'll ramble on incessantly about all things shareware. There's always new news if you stay active in the community and know where to look. Feel free to chat back with me about topics with which you either agree or disagree with me.

Are you a member of the AISIP yet? While the ASP remains deadlocked on issues such as name-change, logo-change, purpose-change, bylaws-change (underwear change?), Sue Pichota showed us all up by creating an entirely new organization called the Association of Independent Software Industry Professionals. It's a fantastic new newsgroup-based organization without all the spam of the alt.* groups. It's already full of industry veterans and has been very productive so far, without a single foodfight. Check it out at www.aisip.com.