No support for pirated copies

[AndreasV]

It might be obvious to state, but recently I've seen a rise the number of support questions for pirated copies of VSB. We happily provide support for paying customers of course.

Needless to say, NO SUPPORT IS GIVEN ON PIRATED COPIES.

[Vzdorjii]

You're right about it, but how do you want to detect pirate version users on the forum ?
For me i think that people who are still using VSB 1.4 on Windows 7 are a lil obvious...

[AndreasV]

http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=749.0 seems to be a good example I think

[ka-la]

So whats on your mind?

[Vzdorjii]

Yes for sure, you would have been told if your software be the first price of a competition, wouldn't you ?

[Heigar]

Why not link the persons username on the forum to there license info.... ( if that would even work)??

Upon registration to the forum you must provide your license key ( if not you cannot register) and if all ready registered you have so many days to email Andreas your username and license info...( or your forum account gets deleted)

I would be more than happy to send in my license info to show that I am legit!
 
Disclaimer:(Just an idea and not really sure if it would work)

[Eoin]

egosofts forums have a support sub-board which is only accessible to people who have their serial key associated with their forum account.

[Camper]

LoL , then they should just make keygens...
One thing you should know... Everything! I mean EVERYTHING on the internet will become a crack / pirated sooner or later ... How you try .... it is impossible .... : (
 

I saw 2012 today! hellyeah! it was a good movie!

[bhast2]

Need to ban Camper from this site

[3am]

Just a couple of months ago you couldn't even LOOK at this forum unless you logged on.

Even when I registered and all it still took days and an email begging for help before I was able to log on.

Things have sure changed. Anymore I don't even bother logging on unless I feel like posting something.....

[bhast2]

yeah they should lock this forum down again

[Heigar]

So in reality people who have a pirated copy still get support from us paid people by not having to log on to see the forum and the help us paid people give to one another (ex: where images are located, or help with software trouble), is that right? Or am I missing something? Maybe I am just confused that even though support is not given to people who pirated the software, they can still get support one way or another. I say lock down the forum so only registered members can see it and have there key tied to the user account.....

[bhast2]

So in reality people who have a pirated copy still get support from us paid people by not having to log on to see the forum and the help us paid people give to one another (ex: where images are located, or help with software trouble), is that right? Or am I missing something? Maybe I am just confused that even though support is not given to people who pirated the software, they can still get support one way or another. I say lock down the forum so only registered members can see it and have there key tied to the user account.....

I love this Idea

[Blackbox]

Only problem is that people with a pirated WSB are registered and able to log on.....or you wouldn't even know they were here...

Easy Fix.

They can pirate their own program, get the pirated serial, and then blacklist it on the new system.

Or, they can add a new system, and just send an new email to all the legit buyers with a forum password. That way for the most part even if they had a pirated version would be locked out of the forums as they wouldn't have the forum key.

I know they could easily work around that by adding that file to a new torrent but that's an easy fix too.

Change passwords once a week or so, that way even if a forum password gets out, by the time it's mass spread throughout the pirate community, we'll already have a new one in place, thus keeping them out that much longer.

Would be a bit extensive but it'll keep them out that much more.

The whole reason they pirate the stuff is to be lazy and not pay. By making them work for the final product would be best.


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Also going with them downloading their own pirated version to get the serial used, blacklist the serial on the updated versions. That way they can't even update to a newer version if they somehow find one out there, or have the info to get the download section of the host. They'd have the program but no working serial.

The owner technically wouldn't be able to complain, as he gave away a serial to a program that's pay for. ( Should be somewhere in your Terms of Service/Use agreement or any other agreements , if not it should be added. )



*Edit

After doing a quick search, I found;

http://vistastylebuilder.com/download.html

Before Purchasing (License Agreement)

   

• Keys are only valid for ONE person: when a key is being shared between people or is available online, the key will be revoked and will no longer be valid to run future updates of VistaStyleBuilder. The payment made for the key will NOT be refunded.
• Any possible damages that might occur from running VistaStyleBuilder, including loss of work due to crashes, cannot be claimed on the author. In other words: you run this software completely on own risk.
• There is no support given on creating skins in VistaStyleBuilder. Of course, bug-reports are always tried to be solved. Problems or "How do I do"-questions regarding Visual Styles are not answered.

First one pertaining to what I had mentioned about blacklisting known pirated serials.

[JMB]

Well I have to admit that I have used pirated copies in the past. Because I couldn't pay at the time. That's not something I'm proud of, but I'm man enough to admit it just the same. I had no PayPal, no credit-card, and my wife & I had agreed long ago to never do financial transactions online... That's no excuse, I know, and I apologize to Ave and the whole community here....Using pirated software affects everyone in some way, right? I should have just waited until I could pay for it, I admit. Downloading pirated anything is wrong, whether it's software, movies, music, etc., and does hurt the people who created those legitimate items....But, on the other hand, some people, like yours truly, wind up buying the said items after having tried out the pirated knockoffs. That's more true for software than music or movies.  

So, last week I had my father-in-law buy my new copy of VSB with his credit card (and I paid him back), and now I'm happy to be here with a 100% legit copy, to be a part of this awesome community (I know many of you from other sites, of course), and to know that I am now helping to support Ave's software and am no longer guilty of robbery (even though I didn't personally 'crack' the software myself).

I think the registration here is very intelligently done, having to set up your account with your activation-code, and I think it will severely cause set-backs for the pirates out there. Given that it's so difficult to find things like new classmaps, stylehacks, and impossible to get support for the pirated versions, it ultimately winds up working out in Ave's favor. And the community's. I for one will NOT be giving my key up to some torrent site...or to anyone! I will guard it closely, you can bet your b-hinds on that. Nor will I be giving away any stylehacks or classmaps posted here. And I will definitely be continuing to support Ave and the community here as much as I can in the future.

[drakulaboy]

YourNumbr1Fan i was in your situation too, i used pirated versions, i live in Republic of Moldova, no paypal (finally paypal arrived in my country), no cards, i earned some money and i bought it, finally, i know, hard work must be rewarded, now i'm proud of me that i don't use anymore pirated versions, and i will take care too than my key will be only for me