If a software publisher finds that 30 percent of its customers are trying to make illegal copies, does that justify implementing copy protection? Adobe officials think so, and as a business decision, it sounds like it might be awfully hard to argue with them. Nonetheless, I think I will.
I've been learning a number of things about Adobe's anti piracy practices in the weeks since I wrote about a reader who found his RAID array wouldn't work with Acrobat 7's product activation. To its credit, Adobe takes problems like this seriously. They were anxious to find out who the reader was so they could isolate the issue, as well as providing him with an activation-free CD. "The information we were able to gather with your reader's help was very valuable, and it appears that one specific RAID controller is involved," said Drew McManus, director of worldwide anti-piracy for Adobe. "Our (DRM) vendor, Macrovision, has provided a fix that we are confident will address the issue."
Of course, I've also learned from other readers that there are some things besides RAID arrays that can cause difficulty with Acrobat or Photoshop activation. Partitioned drives, anti-virus software, docking stations, firewalls and Dell laptops are among the possible culprits readers say Adobe support has identified to them. But, at least in most cases, readers they were ultimately able to at least persuade Adobe to send them a volume license CD if they couldn't actually solve the problem.
As I've said before, activation problems are often support problems in disguise, and vice versa. As Adobe gears up to include activation with its Mac products as well as its Windows offerings, McManus says the company has made a major investment in the infrastructure to keep the problems to a minimum. The company treats activation like another product, with a dedicated product manager, a number of support facilities worldwide, and development teams that customize the Macrovision technology for Adobe's products.
"The infrastructure for this is not an insignificant investment for us," McManus says. "We are trying to do it the right way and not punish the honest customers. It's important that your readers understand that we don't see this as the be-all-and-end-all answer to software piracy. It's true it's not a hindrance to counterfeit bootleggers." And he acknowledges that customers have no reason to like activation as it stands now. "To be perfectly honest, there is no customer benefit to activation. One of the things we have our activation team doing is looking for ways we can change that."
But while activation isn't the best of all possible anti-piracy solutions, Adobe thinks it does do the job of keeping the honest customer honest. "It is pretty effective at dealing with casual piracy," says McManus. "We've done several million activations now since we started with Photoshop, and several hundred thousand with Acrobat. The denial rate steadily averages about 30 percent, with the rates in different countries reflecting the piracy statistics the BSA reports in those countries."
One could quibble that at least some of that 30 percent are legit customers who are running into some of the problems we've heard about, but they would doubtlessly be balanced out by additional illicit copies that would be made if no copy protection was there at all. So let's assume that almost one in three activations really do represent an attempt to make an illegal copy. It's certainly easy to see how any software executive would look at a figure like that and decide that product activation is the only thing that makes sense from a business point of view. But is it?
Personally, I can't shake the feeling that Adobe has made a mistake in going this route. Is getting to deny that 30 percent really worth the expense of building and maintaining the infrastructure to support activation? After all, not all those who are denied activation will turn around and buy a legitimate license, since they can get a cracked copy if they want or just stick with what they're already using.
More importantly, activation represents an unknown potential for loss of customer good will. Some honest customers who've upgraded in the past will just choose not to do to avoid dealing with product activation. How much of Adobe's considerable popularity in the Mac community is it putting at risk if it experiences activation problems there?
Software companies have to make the best business decisions they can, but so do software customers. As long as it remains true that there is no customer benefit to activation, I think that companies are risking their long-term future for a dubious short-term gain in fighting piracy this way. But what do you think? Reasonable minds can differ on an issue like this, so post your thoughts on my website and let Adobe, me, and your fellow readers know what you think is the best decision.
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