What End Users want from copy protection solutions.

Most End Users are honest, however there are 30% or so who will copy your software if they can get away with it for their own convenience and to 'save' themselves money.

Small businesses are the same, but in the main, our Survey of Users shows that they have very specific wishes when it comes to licensing and using any type of copy protection technology. Most believe copy protection to be a reasonable technology and that a developer has the 'right' to prevent theft but they don't want lots of hassle as a result.

In order to provide the best service to an End User and to minimize any bad PR it is essential that the following conditions are met by your Anti-Piracy implementation:

1. Ensure the technology is reliable, they hate having to re-license because the copy protection stops working for any reason. Most will abandon software that has unreliable copy protection as it's too much hassle and they will tell their friends. The press has many examples of this activity.
2. Make the whole system as easy to use as possible, with the minimum number of clicks to providing a fully working system. This usually means Internet Activation technology.
3. If using Internet Activation, ensure you also have an alternative to the usual 'invisible' activation that assumes easy access to the Internet. With today's firewall technology being ubiquitous your End Users may have problems activating this way. Provide a web site they can go to outside the firewall to get a 'self service' code as a backup. Plus phone and email of course.
4. Let the End User (for consumers) install on home and work PCs, give them 2 licenses. This is also very helpful if they lose one!
5. Make licenses very easy to move between PCs for upgrades or again if they have a work/home setup. This means a couple of clicks and less than a minute via multiple methods i.e. transfer back to the Internet Activation Server or to a USB flash drive.
6. End users are also very wary of the developer going bust and leaving them with an unworkable licensing system. It would be wise to ensure that 5 above is fully implemented and perhaps also your licensing codes to be placed in Escrow. With a third party managed licensing service (like the optional PRO-Tector unlocking codes web site), you can also show that they can still get and move licenses if they are still in business or not.
7. Tell End Users why you are implementing copy protection and explain how it works to them so they have no fear about the system and the fact that you will help them with all the issues above.

If you can make it clear in your marketing that you are protecting them by ensuring the survival of your business and that the protection technology you are using works in their favor then you will not have lots of problems with implementing your Anti-Piracy policy.

Of course, you have other benefits to offer them using these systems in the form of multiple licensing options and flexible ways to pay for your software.

See "All about software piracy" for the next part of the story...