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Is the program going to come back?
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Nope...
I like systems, their application excepted. (George Sand, translated from French), "J'aime beaucoup les systèmes, le cas d'application excepté." -
I managed to find a bit of background on this app. According to the Google cache for the VersionTracker entry, it was only released this month! Does anyone know the story behind why this app went away? It looks like it would've been quite handy...
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The man who posted above you would be the one to answer that, he's the author.
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Originally Posted by tgpo
... actually, GeezerButt is the author. -
I didn't think GeezerButt had anything to do with this program. I though he was with MacThe Ripper only.
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Oh, bilestyle is the author
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Sorry that I asked about this. I haven't been spending too much time on the computer as of late, and this post was the first I had heard of Echelon.
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The story (from what I've read) is that someone figured out how to generate serial numbers for the application and started posting them on the newsgroups. In retaliation, the author made an updated version of the application that would delete the user's home directory if a pirated serial number was entered. Needless to say, this caused a big stink which led to the Echelon's demise.Originally Posted by harvid
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LOL!!!! Serves em' right.Originally Posted by Macnewbie
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Unsanity's Piracy Protection?! weblog entry is still around for anyone who wants more background about this.
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Vigilantism really doesn't solve anything or create good will. Also, in this case, I wouldn't buy the application because who knows, maybe it would think that my serial was invalid. It'd be safer and easier to just snag a pirated serial and test it on a blank account with no permissions. And, if the application is dead, I don't see any moral issues anymore...Originally Posted by tgpoLOL!!!! Serves em' right.Originally Posted by Macnewbie
Not that I particularly care, just my current opinion on the matter.If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why.
blog: deadsierra -
I didn't have anything to do w/ Echelon's development. Yeah, lots of people share that opinion, and that's why this measure caused such a stink, and Echelon was shut down. The offensive copy protection was only part of the project for about half a day, before the developer came to his senses and took it down. It was really a heat-of-the-moment decision, and a very poor one at that, and the developer knows it. Grilling him about it now does no one any good. Lesson learned, and no innocents harmed.
I like systems, their application excepted. (George Sand, translated from French), "J'aime beaucoup les systèmes, le cas d'application excepté." -
Browsing some recent posts here from Echelon's developer (according to tgpo) was interesting in light of the "incident". Not someone I'd immediately warm up to or feel comfortable doing business with given his seemingly "toxic" temperament. Anyway, I hope things work out okay for him, and maybe we'll eventually look back and laugh at this (wouldn't it be sad and disturbing not to?). Sure, it was serious enough for some attention and concern but I don't see the point in overinflating it.
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Thanks for the link, as I missed the original dust-up.Originally Posted by sjk
It is a classic example of "two wrongs not making a right". I'm glad the author re-considered so quickly.
Mikiev"Dare to be Stupid!" - Wierd Al Yankovic -
Was Echelon a good product? If so, it's too bad it's been discontinued.
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It was a great product for converting almost all video formats to DVD or (x)VCD format, including between PAL<->NTSC, and had the best interface for this type of app I've ever seen. It's a damn shame, but unfortunately, the controversy surrounding the copy protection scheme has severely tarnished the developer's reputation. It's too bad, but it's unlikely you'll ever see Echelon released again, or anything else by Digital Schism. One more roadkill on the path of indie software.
I like systems, their application excepted. (George Sand, translated from French), "J'aime beaucoup les systèmes, le cas d'application excepté." -
I don't really see why BileStyle doesn't just take his lumps and continue with the product. So the wannabe hackers over at MSJ will continue to zing him - who cares what a bunch of spotty teenagers think? The vast majority of users will not care/know that there ever was a controversy. Just knuckle-down, work on that serial algorithm
and see what happens. I also think he is vastly overestimating the reach of MSJ. So his app was released for 1 day and then MSJ cracked it and then supposedly registrations dried up ... this is totally illogical if you ask me. In my opinion a day (or even a month) was not nearly long enough for news of this app to trickle out through the Mac video world (just see the posts in this thread, a lot of em had never heard of Echelon). Only us ubergeeks keep track of the daily VT and MU RSS feeds for new Mac apps :P
I did read your (WW's) point about the app being for more technical people who are likely to read MSJ (not sure I agree with this, I know plenty of scientific/technical types who wouldn't know warez if it jumped up and bit em in the ass) but in my opinion this kind of all-in-one-app is more likely to be used by relative newbies. -
There are several problems with this. The first is that msj readers make up a large part of Echelon's userbase, since it's most useful for people who download video content off the net. The second is that msj users are generally quite web-active, and so they will not miss an opportunity to raise a stink about this issue if they can. If I had my home directory wiped, I'd also likely be quite pissed about it, and might do my best to seek revenge on the developer, by spreading this news as widely as possible, in order to get people to boycott his products.
Because of this, I don't think it would be wise to keep Digital Schism alive, as all of their releases would be tainted with this negative publicity and developer suspicion. Apparently, the developer agrees.I like systems, their application excepted. (George Sand, translated from French), "J'aime beaucoup les systèmes, le cas d'application excepté."
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