I assure you pirated flightsim software is out there...http://saltydogfly2.avsim.net/images/avsim_sig.jpg

As I think through the sim products I have purchased in the past couple of years there seem to be three or so methods of TRYING to protect the software from piracy.1. The PSS Method, you purchase, get a logon and password, then you can always download your software any time. I guess that leaves piracy up to each individual's integrity and not sharing their password. I wonder how successful this is?2. The Flight1/FSD/Eaglesoft/Et Al ... wrapper purchase method. You download, pay, and get a key automagically and install. For reinstalls and upgrades you need to have the install key and the last 4 digits from your credit card. I am not sure what this methods "TAKES" from my PC in terms of some unique ID from the BIOS .. so I am not sure how foolproof it is.3. The Captain Sim, Radio Contact and others method ... create a note with a unique key embedded ... not sure the source of the key .. and send in to "register" ... you then get a key. This seems the most secure of the three. When Capt Sim did this scheme originally ... there was close to a revolution ... but in the end it all worked out.Bottom line here, we live in a word where many people do not have any integrity at all and feel that it is their RIGHT to have ALL the software available for free ... very sad .. very sad indeed since there are many fine people who try to make a living in this business. Good luck to you guys ... I am looking forward to another neat 737!!!

yea i honestly think is great for the anti piracy stuff, i dont see a lot of Pirated fs but ihave heard numerous stories of places having it. I think part of the reason i dont see it is that i tend to do my computer shoping in some of the mroe "repuatble" computer stures such as Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, where they dont normally carry the stuff that PSS or Wilco, or PMDG produce though. I did check Kazaa, cuz i heard a rumor there was PSS stuff on there, and I can assure you there is not, which is a very good thing, I actually had an e-mail open for PSS to alert them. I heard that Arianes founder like Peter Tishma, has stolen many PSS workes and produced them as his own, namely the 757. I am really hesitant to buy from Ariane, like once i found out, i don'twanna buy any of their stuff. That is probably my clearest example of piracy right there. I do encourage all of the people who get asked for pirates to turn them in. for some reason i think that music sharing is not bad, probably because many of the stars make multi-milllions of dollars, and they continue to roll in the bucks. Also many people i know, do burn only like one or two songs of an artist, otherwise they'd buy a CD. I think the people who bring VIDCAMS into moviies is horrbile, thats definately wrong, but then again i think there will always be a huge market for it seeing as the theatre near me wants $9.50 a movie. (Student is 7.00 but thats getting raised). There is a new theater, that is $3.50 and free refils on popcorn and soda, they are going to take all the business away. Anyway, i think that piracy is wrong, and im TOTALLY for this anti-piracy sotftware! Go PMDG!

There is not one protection system in the world which cannot be cracked/Hacked if enough time and effort is put into it.Its usually a simple case of examining the algorithm within the products protection and creating a key generator with that algorithm.Having said that, PMDG are going about it the right way IMO, i.e to make it as difficult as possible for the "average" copyright infringer to download a working copy of this product over the P2P networks.But you can be pretty confident, that because of the high deamnd for this product when released, cracking groups will almost certainly put enough effort into cracking it.My 2 cents, Keep u the good work gentlemen ;) RegardsJohnhttp://www.bavirtual.co.uk 715Hours ;)P 2.53 GHZ512 RAMWINXPGFORCE 4 128MB Ti4600http://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...tor=OD1&a=a.jpg

Paul, you are not entirely correct about 2 (Flight1). After downloading and unlocking, it is possible to save a backup copy of the unlocked installer. This can be reinstalled without contacting Flight1. In fact, it can be burned to CD-ROM and installed on a machine not connected to the network. Personally I like this approach.I would presume that the unlocked installer has my identity embedded in it such that if I made it publically available they would know who the culprit was.Lee Hetherington (KBED)http://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...tor=OD1&a=a.jpg

Vin - check your forum PM...Ryan

Paul - in addition to what Lee said about the Flight1 wrapper - the PSS system will install to a blank FS2002 folder (just rename the real one) and you can then make a zip file preserving the folder paths for the planes - this is what I did with the A320 and Dash 8 to back them up to CD once the final patches were out...Honestly I don't understand what the issue is for people like Walter - is it really THAT much of an inconvience to send an email (or better yet some kind of automated thing) to PMDG if you buy a new system or upgrade? (how often does that happen? cmon) To me it seems like a reasonable concession to make to help them ensure that people aren't ripping off their hard work. I don't see how it's some kind of invasion of privacy/rights etc...Ryan

We all know that there is not ANY protection that has not been cracked or will be, PMDG know this too. Flight One's Meridian did a fine job at trying to stop this very thing but within one week thier product appeared on certain sites. What does one do? I think that most within the flight sim community are honest folks and would not think to obtain these products by theft but there are always those few. I like PSS's idea, you must have your log in name etc to access thier files. Their installers are good too because you must log *on-line* to complete the install. The only down side that I can see with that is somehow KNOWING if many people are using the same log in to access the site and update there product. I am sure their is a way to monitor this activity and remove those *bad* log in names while allowing a *certain* number of installs because of a new hard drive, crash or format etc, really might be cheaper in the long run. While not perfect it's good for both parties.[h5]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smith[/h5][h6]Are You Ready For The Next Great one? PMDG's 737NG is almost here![/h6][h3]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"[/h3] [h5]AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF3 64 MEG @ 215/545|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h5]

>After>downloading and unlocking, it is possible to save a backup>copy of the unlocked installer. This can be reinstalled>without contacting Flight1. In fact, it can be burned to>CD-ROM and installed on a machine not connected to the>network. Personally I like this approach.>>I would presume that the unlocked installer has my identity>embedded in it such that if I made it publically available>they would know who the culprit was.>>Lee Hetherington (KBED)Thats exactly what I think too

All I can say is, This is what you call customer service, PMDG are risking their own profits to give us maximun enjoyment. 10 days is ample time for an idiot cracker to try and crack their security system. Yet they let us have it stright away, You cant get much nicer than that. Most compaines would not allow any grace period, and sending them an email asking when will i get my key, usually ends up with a response you did not expect. I do agree with the policy and dont blame people like CS.But PMDG have pushed the boat out here, to satisfy us right from the start.Thankyou PMDG, Your brilliant guys.Jason

Just some thoughts:- What if every software would use such a protection? Imagine, you have 30 applications and have to reinstall your operating system. Instead of just installing all the applications you first would have to send 30 requests for new activation keys, and then wait until you get them.- It seems you will loose quite some customers because they don

i think that there is no way to prevent piracy at all. too many script kiddies around.M$, tried to enforce this piracy with windows XP and the activation method, even before WinXP was released activation patches where available. there is no money to make with software, you have to do it through services. If you have the best service, combined with a good product, customers will come to you and pay for it.not even the best hardware firewall allows 100% security. there is always a chance to get hacked.you invent a protection and there is always someone to invent the countermeasures and the protection is gone.i will be purchasing your 737 no matter what protection it has. if the product isn't worth the money i spend, it will be the first and the last time i purchased something of you.i was tricked twice by Wilco (AP2002V1/A320) there will be no third time ;)do what ever is necessary to make it as hard as possible to hack, but don't go on vacation, and tell us, "activation code will be sent after our vacation"cheersMartin

Lefteris,Absolutely no problem if you guys want to protect your work.Also no problem if you want to lock the program to the hardware it was installed on, as long you give me means to 'move' it to a different machine e.g. when I travel or when I buy a new box. If I am not put into the same drawer as pirates and as long as I can get the product working on the new machine, I am happy. Just remember, this is not Windows where it is unlikely that someone disposes of a PC without leaving the operating system on it. If someone uses your product they want to keep it and it would not be sold or given away with an old computer. An operating system would be most likely and therefore one can perhaps understand Microsoft's strategy of binding their product to the hardware forever. You should not do this but allow us to move (!) the product to another machine that we want it on now.Regarding all those who want to use your product in a 'widescreen setup' etc., as the machines are networked anyway, can't you simply add a licensing mechanism that lets the 'remote' copy query the 'central' copy (server) for verification of the licence and in this way the copies on the network are all linked. (I guess you would need to make sure that they are not used individually but are used in that 'widescreen' setup.). Just an idea.Regards,Siggy

in regards to windowsXPyou can always reactivate your windows on a new PC. if you have alegal license, you'll never have a problem ;)i change my PC about 4 times last year

>there is no money to make with software, you have to do it>through services. If you have the best service, combined with>a good product, customers will come to you and pay for it.That's a great observation and seems to be true in a lot of ways - I can think of a great example: I'm a musician and I use a computer based recording system called Digidesign Pro Tools to create and produce music. This is professional software that's in use in almost every recording studio out there now and you may have heard about a few of its features like the ability to effortlessly "punch-in" to fix bad takes and "autotune" vocal performances to cover up off-key mistakes etc. The program is far more than those gimmicky type features though, and you basically have more power than a full analog studio did just 5 or 6 years ago at your fingertips with it - you'd think that this would be among some of the most pirated software out there. Wrong!!! Piracy on the Pro Tools program itself is practically zero because it requires hardware to use. You can't just run it using your Soundblaster, it needs one or more of the various Digidesign accelerator cards to even run. You buy the hardware, and basically the software comes free with it. This is a brilliant move on their part IMO and takes the ability for someone to pirate right out of the equation.Ryan