Given the choice, most software buyers would probably prefer to avoid products that use activation or other forms of copy protection. As one reader points out, however, that's hard to do when software publishers keep it a secret.
"The comments you make about vendors hiding their EULAs raised something that I've noticed recently that bothers me even more," the reader wrote. "Vendors are hiding the fact that their products are using product activation or other user-unfriendly DRM techniques. Often they call it something benign-sounding, but it's still product activation and they absolutely won't say or advertise that they're using it."
Roxio and Scansoft are among the companies we've seen not being entirely forthright about the existence of DRM in their products. An example the reader just ran into is Dr Tax Software, makers of Canadian tax software UFile. "I could find nothing on their web site that states they are using product activation," he wrote. To be sure, though, he wrote the company and was told that the product does in fact have activation. "I happened to be in my local Future Shop today so I checked the UFile packaging. Sure enough, no mention of product activation being included."
Of course, it's not a total surprise that software companies don't like to advertise the fact that they are using copy protection. "The public hates -- or at least dislikes -- product activation," the reader wrote. "The publishers love it though, so they use it but don't tell you up front, thereby reducing the public's ability to buy from and support publishers that don't use it. Software makers don't want you selecting on the basis which is the easiest product to own -- they don't want to compete in that sort of market."
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