Lippard.Multics 1985-05-23 18:48:04 mst Thu
Subject:  New deterrent for software pirates
Selling one's soul is no longer the exclusive subject of theology and
literature.  Technology has moved in and in that world souls are worth a
lot of money.
   Richard Bennett, president of Mother Jones' Son's Software, said the
idea of putting a user's soul on the line first occurred to him in 1966,
when he was in college.
   "I had a friend who lived down the hall from me who called himself an
atheist," he said.  "I told him I'd buy his soul for a quarter.  Since
he didn't believe he had one, he would get something for nothing."
   "Well, he took the money, but in less than six months he wanted to
buy his soul back.  I sold it to him--for $100.  He had to beg and
borrow from his fraternity brothers for the money and he had to shave
his head to get it."
   The lesson stuck with Bennett until he began to market ProKEY, his new
software package.  The program sits in background memory enabling a user
to change single keystroke command codes, to get ahead of the machine by
1000 keystrokes and to speed up the cursor six to 10 times its normal
rate.
   All this is on a copiable disk selling for $30.  On its face, the
program reads that if a user copies the software illegally, Mother
Jones' Son's assumes possession of his soul.  The company will waste no
time in "negotiating the sale (of the soul) to the first smoking,
blood-drenched apparition with fangs (SBD-AWF) that meets our price."
   Legally, users are allowed to make copies of the program, provided
they pass the $20 cost on to the company.  In fact, Bennett says that if
users want to charge more than the $20 the company demands for such
copies they may do so and keep the change.

[from Computer Consultant, May 1985]