🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1992Nov3.164319.4116@msdhsv.ingr.com> john@fl_gator.b17a.ingr.com writes:

>  Hello,
>  
>    I noticed with DOS 5.0 that each floopy and hard disk has a unique
>    serial number. I would like to access this serial number from code.
>    If my code could check the number against a known serial number
>    I could detect whether the user has copied my code to another disk.
>    I am trying to hinder the piracy of my software as you might have
>    guessed. If anyone has any info it would be greatly appreciated.

This is one of the simplest, and most easily defeatable, copy
protection schemes. I have seen things like that in commercial
programs, but *after* people (non-expert users) told me that the copy
'protection' is defeated by just using the DISKCOPY of DOS 3.x. The
same holds for vendor-specific code in the boot block.

Copy protection is generally a complicated thing, and many people
argue that a complete protection cannot be achieved. And many think
that forcing the users to use dongles or keydisks is a Bad Thing.

MfG,
        Olaf
-- 
    o     Olaf Titz - comp.sc.student - univ of karlsruhe - germany
 _ /<_    s_titz@iravcl.ira.uka.de - uknf@dkauni2.bitnet - praetorius@irc
(_)>(_)   +49-721-60439 - did i forget something?
He thinks too much, such men are dangerous. - Shakespeare, Caesar