RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & "Copy Pro tection"

I once overheard an attorney being asked by a young techie if the attorney would mind if the techie took a copy of his copyrighted software for his personal use. The attorney replied "No problem, I'll just disavow any knowledge of how it came to be in your possession". Protecting your source with only an well written agreement, is like trying to saddle a sour horse after you've already let him out of the barn. If someone gets your source and edits it so that it no longer looks like yours, it becomes difficult for you to prove that it was yours in the first place. Letting him have an editable copy, with court as your only recourse, will not undo the damage that could have been prevented by making his copy un-editable, before giving it to him. Warren Vail Tools, Metrics & Quality Processes (415) 667-7814 Pager (877) 774-9891 215 Fremont 02-658 -----Original Message----- From: Jason Soza [mailto:solja@gci.net] Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 5:02 PM To: php-general@lists.php.net Subject: RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & "Copy Protection" This was actually the point I was trying to make with my last post. It doesn't matter what you distribute, if you have a written agreement in place, they need to pay or you have legal grounds to sue them for payment. If you have an agreement for them to purchase open source code from you, then you give them the code, they give you the money. If they don't give you the money, that's theft - akin to taking a car from a lot and not paying for it. Thanks for saying that more succinctly, Dave. Jason Soza ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Freeman" <dfreeman@outbackqld.net.au> Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2002 3:47 pm Subject: RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & "Copy Protection" > > > Complain all you want about having to distribute source to > > customers with PHP (the free version, that is), but if you > > were willing to pay hard cash for an answer to your problem, > > it seems to be available at http://www.zend.com/. The > > deployment software, on the surface, promises to protect > > source code. Does anyone on this list have experience with > > this tool? > > I'm not the one complaining. I'm comfortable writing php that I hand > over to my clients. I have legally binding agreements in place to > dealwith non-payment etc. In the end I'm also comfortable with > open source > - if someone wants to take the code they paid me to write and do > something else with it then that's entirely their choice and I > wish them > well. > > My point is that trying to implement self-destruct code and the > like is > implementing a technical solution to a non-technical problem. It's > inappropriate. > > As you point out as well, if you're that uncomfortable with giving > someone else your code then use the zend compiler and give them > bitcodeinstead. It's your choice. > > CYA, Dave > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php