If they can print unique CD keys inside the box, or in the manual, I don’t see why it’s so difficult to have the keys printed directly on the disk instead (or printed on a sticker stuck on the disk).
Of course, I think evil companies try to ensure keys are easy to lose - they make more $$$ by forcing you to buy a second copy.
In the good old days the key used to be printed on the back of the box, and the bog standard installers said “Type the CD key found on the back of the box”. Then they realised how stupid it was to put the CD key in plain sight and moved it to the back of the manual or, in some cases, inside the box. But the installers didn’t change. That threw quite a lot of people.
In the good good old days we had code wheels. Might have been annoying, but damn they were a darn sight more fun than a series of digits.
I’ve not had to type a key in for ages. All of the software I’ve bought in the lasst 6 months has been online and thus comes with the niceties of registration that provides (so long as you are connected). Oh, other than Visual Studio, which I copy and paste instead.
"This brought back nerve-wracking memories of trying to install Neverwinter Nights. Not only did it apparently have both 0 and O in the key but it was printed in a deeply ambiguous squared-off font which made 0, O and D almost entirely indistinguishable. Also V and U were almost indistinguishable. It took about 45 minutes to type in the key from the box and actually get the software installed."
You fool, don’t you understand? That makes it more secure!
I was developing a key entry form for an application. I initially proposed and was approved to create an automatic feedback so that the user didn’t have to press OK after entering the key to find out that it worked. This was especially important since we had a 1 second delay so that automated scripts couldn’t break it with a birthday attack. It worked, everyone saw it worked and the feature was pulled and the Check Key button was added in. I never got a good reason for the change.
Aston-
Don’t remember the hardball- However, I DO remember a copy of “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” which would ask you to type in the nth word from the top of page x in the Almanac that came with the game.
Wacky, huh?
I have a pirate copy of every game I bought, as it’s much simplier to just install it, crack and use some VCDROM solution than to search for the CD and play with the disturbing CD noise, not to mention I cannot play on my CD-less tablet PC.
Luckily, the same is not always true for other software, but the biggest pain when reinstalling system / moving from one computer to another is the activation, typing serial numbers, finding them in emails, finding old installation files (since you simply cannot download the old version from vendor’s website)…
“The difference is that when something is really stolen, the original possessor no longer has it. It was pretty much a Bill Gates “innovation” to mis-apply the term to copying software.”
Fair enough. How about if I read a comic in a comic book store and then don’t buy it. Technically I’m not stealing, nor am I breaching copyright. Am I committing a crime?
I was then prompted to enter something like 6 to 8 different CD keys!
That’s about 20 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.
8 keys in 20 minutes = 2.5 minutes per key. Assuming the key was 20 digits long = 7.5 seconds to enter each character. (6 keys each of 10 characters = 20 seconds per character). And you were installing Command and Conquer, right? Tell me, do you play for money?
Fair enough. How about if I read a comic in a comic book store and
then don’t buy it. Technically I’m not stealing, nor am I breaching
copyright. Am I committing a crime?
I give up. What crime are you committing?
I think I have a rock solid solution for this whole serial key dilemma:
Please enter the word orange into the textbox below 
one unavoidable aspect of software installation[…]: entering the registration key.
Registration keys? How quaint and 20th-century. An artifact of software companies deluded enough to think that it somehow hurts the bad people without hurting their sales significantly.
The aggravation is intentional.
Indeed it is, and it’s one of many reasons to choose software that doesn’t have such intentional aggravation designed in.
Unique registration keys exist only to prevent piracy.
No, they’re to prevent copyright infringement. Piracy is an entirely separate, violent crime that has nothing to do with copyright.
I accept that software registration keys are a necessary evil for commercial software
Then you accept a falsehood. There are plenty of companies making plenty of money selling commercial software that has no such aggravation, like PostgreSQL and Apache.
It may be that proprietary software is less viable without user-hostile measures like registration keys. However, that merely supports the idea that proprietary software is an unnecessary evil.
Sorry, but I prefer no data over biased data. Biased data is presented with an obvious interest, and when the linked page starts its conclusions with one of the oldest lies of the industry (“Piracy is a worldwide problem that costs software developers billions of dollars every year”), its credibility quickly becomes zero for me.
As for Vista piracy rate being half of XP, sincerely… Who wants Vista?. Not me. The only reason for the rate is that most of the people using Vista have it because it came with their computer and they don’t know how to get rid of it. And less people are pirating it because, frankly… XP is better. Why?. You only have to read this great article to know it:
http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx
I don’t feel any pity for Microsoft, specially when the subject is piracy. Piracy put them where they are now, and many times have they “mistakenly” released unprotected versions of their products, just to make people try them and hook them. It’s drugs all the way. Except Vista. No one’s going to get hooked on that.
In the end, I feel Registration Keys are useless. You lose them, you have to keep them, you have to input them, and in the end… you know what?. Your software is still pirated, and the pirates just use a .reg or a keygen and are free of the hassles you as a customer have to go through.
Drop the keys and just use the mail of the customers!. Use it to push updates, to get support (you use a form in the website and receive a short UUID to call TS), etc, etc. If anyone thinks the keys do anything more than irk potential customers, they’re fooling themselves.
“one of the oldest lies of the industry (“Piracy is a worldwide problem that costs software developers billions of dollars every year”)”
‘That this is a lie is one of the oldest lies of piracy.’ (equally valid PoV) Billions is an exaggeration, but to simply go “it’s a lie” without any kind of link to evidence is ridiculous.
The last registration I did was done by dragging and dropping the email I got with the registration details in it onto the registration dialog. That was worth the $20 right there
(You also had the option of manually typing it in, if you were missing the pain…)
"PostgreSQL and Apache"
Ah yes, two mass market companies there. It’s not like they’re for a niche audience; I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve chatted to my cabbie or doctor about Apache.
Also, these are products with an attached community. The users tend to frequent forums and deal with the creators/developers/users on a daily basis. That’s simply not true for OS’s/Games/Office Suites/Media Players, etc.
"I give up. What crime are you committing?"
Trust me, as far as the owner’s concerned, there’s a crime. Dunno what it is, though.
“one of the oldest lies of the industry (“Piracy is a worldwide
problem that costs software developers billions of dollars every
year”)” ‘That this is a lie is one of the oldest lies of piracy.’
(equally valid PoV) Billions is an exaggeration, but to simply go
"it’s a lie" without any kind of link to evidence is ridiculous.
One could just as well argue that your suggestion that “Billions is an exaggeration” is ridiculous, as it’s not backed up.
How can one prove that piracy doesn’t cost developers billions of dollars? People who make claims need to back those claims up. Saying “it’s a lie” is just a challenge to produce some proof, and doesn’t need any evidence.
How come Microsoft wants you to register the key online and then they forget you exist for just about every other transaction with the company and the software? Why do I have to prove who I am and that I bought it for rebates processing or trouble shooting. Isn’t all this info in a database that the company and their partners can access? It’s all much more complicated and bureaucratic than it has to be.
I’d also add to the rules that the key should either be asked for at the very beginning of installation, at the very end or on first execution. Asking for a key in the middle of a long installation process is just asinine and unfriendly. (I’m looking at you, Microsoft.)