Comments on: A cracking question.

By: What makes you happy ? » XPlay .. does not play nice.

What makes you happy ? » XPlay .. does not play nice. — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:00:13 +0000

[...] Yesterday D finally got fed up with iTunes. So I looked around for an alternative that (1) worked (2) was reasonably priced and (3) didn’t eat RAM. I found XPlay and installing and testing it on this machine showed it was fairly okay. So she installed it on hers after downloading her own 15 day trial. Earlier we had to switch the power off for a few minutes and her machine shut down incorrectly – as they do. On rebooting, the clock has decided it was now 2036 so the 15 day trial was blown away. Removing the code was painful, the program had made at least 40 entries to the registry and somewhere – I have yet to find out just where – was buried the line of something that tells the next XPlay that one was here before. I perfectly understand why they are there but hunt the thing down I will do. Anyway, while scraping the code off D’s HD I noticed how many processes it was using and how much memory – not lots, but enough. So I used the Control panel Add/Remove on this machine to uninstall the program – it does not come with it’s own uninstaller it seems. And then as it’s doing this, it tells me to shut Thunderbird. What’s that all about ? Why is a third party commercial app sharing anything at all with an OSS email program ? One does music, the other does text. Very very odd. So I uninstall and reboot as I am told – and it still does not fully remove itself (why do commercial apps have this tendency to leave their parent folder in /Programs ? So we’ll look in there and fondly recall the frustration ? If we want it gone, we mean it.). So … XPlay sticks itself in the startup menu (and doesn’t say so), has several processes going at all times (not good) and is poking around in places it shouldn’t. Tut tut tut. Bad code. It’s at my “Sure I’ll buy it level” of $30. I mentioned previously that at $30 I’ll just pay – a no thought action. But now I’m not so sure. I want to buy well-behaved software. I want software that is open about what it does and how it does. XPlay has fallen into the “possibly bad-code-ware” category. Which means that $30 suddenly seems like I could be paying for hassle. If I want hassle I’ll not pay for it. Take that statement anyway you want it. As it is, I’ll find where the code is that XPlay checks for on my machine and then remove it from D’s. Oh… there’s a thought – she could have a free trial. Again . . . . . just to be sure of course. Ã‚Â¤ Read (1) [...]

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 10:40:49 +0000

Gregory – if I said it or even what it did, you’d be able to find it within seconds. So I won’t. I haven’t used it since I mentioned above though so hopefully I’ll delete it by next week…

By: Gregory

Gregory — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 00:51:00 +0000

Mark – what is it that the other program does?

By: Cameron aka desk003

Cameron aka desk003 — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:35:50 +0000

I try to never crack stuff from independent devs. Big Names are another story though. I can’t afford the software I need.

I’d say crack it. If you really like it, and don’t find another free one like it, buy it in time.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:34:03 +0000

Ryan – excellent solution !

As for my initial post, I had two cracked apps. Each costing $50.
I have today found that a freeware program will do what one did (albeit in a more clunky fashion) so it is deleted but the other I cannot replace. Neither do I think it worth $50. So I’ve removed the shortcut – if I haven’t used it in a week I’ll delete it. If I have ….. hm.. I’ll think about that then.

And it’s not a ‘must not spend money’ thing – it’s about value. If FeedDemon 2 (currently in beta) came along and I have to pay the $30 to upgrade I would. No hesitation.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:44:37 +0000

About a year ago I needed a program for a small project, which would ultimately cut my production time down. I really wanted it, but couldn’t justify spending $275 on it… for only one use.

I cracked the demo, and used the program for free. The application was created by a “lone guy”, so I felt guilty afterwards, when thinking about all of the time this guy put into the development process.

I figured out that his program had saved me 3 hours of work, so I anonymously mailed him a letter explaining my situation and a money order for $90 ($30/hr x 3 hours). He later blogged about it, thanking me for my contribution.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 12:41:59 +0000

I think I have a similar ‘ceiling’. If I can’t find freeware that does what I want, and the software is less than say $50, I’ll stump up. Hell I’ve bought software in the past that I no longer use because I found a better freeware alternative.

Above that ceiling and it gets a little grey. I do have a couple of cracked apps on my PC but they are typically:
a. too expensive
b. not used often (less than once a month)

So I guess I could come up with a usage per price ratio. If I’m using it everyday and it’s below X then I’ll buy it. etc etc

Interesting topic though.

By: gpshewan

gpshewan — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 11:09:22 +0000

Hehe that would have been my point Mark. The amount of requests for help I see from people who admit they are new to the whole thing … yet have made the substantial investment in Dreamweaver and Photoshop is quite amazing. I’ve used the analogy before that it’s like buying a Ferarri before you pass your test. There’s also a school of thought that says that activity is why Dreamweaver does so well…

I don’t have any cracked software, the only ones I pay for are Netnewswire and Ecto which are worth their weight in gold. Luckily in the Mac world there are some fantastic programs for free. I didn’t have to buy Netnewswire because I could have used Netnewswire Lite … and instead of paying for BBedit I use the free version Textwrangler. In all honesty I can’t think of an application I would want a cracked version for. Office is a potential one, but pure text files are easier to transfer between machines and OS. Even if you want to get into high end 3D work there are free (watermarked) versions. I did download a cracked version of a popular 3D package years ago before those versions were available and I wanted to play with it … but trying to get to grips with it gave me a headache :) So it got binned.

By the way, with the conversation being cracked software you realise your traffic to this post is going to go through the roof? ;)

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:37:12 +0000

My ‘limit for no thought purchase’ is $30. At that point and below I’ll buy it.
Above that ? Hmmmmm

(Getting off the point – it never ceases to amaze me the number of people that have ‘bought’ Dreamweaver yet cannot get even the really basic stuff right. Expensive lessons…)

By: Gregory

Gregory — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 18:02:36 +0000

damn, thats Painter 8, but the processor saw an 8 and ) and made it 8)