Posted by Erik Hill on April 06, 19100 at 15:29:11:
In Reply to: Fundamental flaws posted by dentin on April 06, 19100 at 14:52:33:
: Problem number 1 - control over the target machine, the machine I install
: the software on, cannot be guaranteed. If I can download the software,
: then I can copy the software and run it in a protected environment. I can
: figure out how it works. And, typically after a short period of time, I
: can crack the copy/distribution protection on it. The software can now
: be distributed for zero cost to anyone I wish, and I can resell the now
: unneeded liscense to gain back my original investment.
This problem is easy to reduce in severity. Instead of hosting the software on one's local machine, host the software RIGHT ON THE BROKER'S MACHINE.
This solves all sorts of problems. Firstly, adding software does not reduce your harddrive space. Your right and your ability to use the software occur at the same time. And, the broker's machine might well be able to detect attemps to copy the software off of it (for illegal redistribution later). Installation would be instantaneous, and deinstallation would be just as easy and fast. It also dramatically reduces the TCO of a machine, if all of the software is in fact on various broker's machines, except for the kernel in ROM (which, hopefully, is free-as-in-speech!)
You still have total control over your local machine, you have just added networking. Open source software would either be installed directly on your own machine or you'd buy some kind of subscription from an open-source (free-as-in-speech) provider house, for a monthly fee. I realize that this won't work for embedded systems software.
Erik Hill