Software, support, and warranties

[Robert W. Withrow]

In article <10801 at scolex.sco.COM> wul at sco.COM (Wu Liu) writes:
>Well, I do think there's one major difference between shoes and software
>when it comes to money-back guarantees.  If you return a pair of shoes,
>they're no longer in your possession...How can software vendors tell if a
>returned product isn't still in use by the returning party?

There is, no real way (short of copy protection) to know.  This would,
of course, be stealing (or fraud).  I don't doubt that there would be
some number of people who would do this.  Since this would be a
criminal act (indeed, at $1000 it would be a felony in most states),
and not just immoral, I doubt this would be a major problem.  

P.S., I mean major in the sense that it would be a smaller problem
that that of people who are already copying the OS from their friends.
You are talking about people who already shelled out the $ and not
people who just carted over a box of floppies to their friend's
computer. 
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 Robert Withrow, R.W. Withrow Associates, Swampscott MA 01907 USA
 Tel: +1 617 598 4480, Fax: +1 617 598 4430, Net: witr at rwwa.COM