Re: Executing Encrypted Code

[ph@netcom.com (Peter Hendrickson)]

At 9:42 AM 12/20/1996, Bill Frantz wrote:
>At 11:16 PM -0800 12/19/96, Peter Hendrickson wrote:
>> Or, you could turn in the broken processor and have the manufacturer
>> certify that it was turned in to the software vendors and that
>> a new version of the software should be generated.

> I meant processor backup of course.  When my processor breaks at 2AM and I
> need to get the report out by 8AM, I'm going to call the software support
> line and get help.

If your processor dies you are SOL whether or not you have software.

If it's worthwhile having a backup processor around, then you just have
to spend a little more to have backup software, too.

> Or the friendly hardware manufacturer is going to come
> right out and certify my processor is dead.  Come on and get real.  With
> most software vendors I can't even submit a bug report.

If the reissuance of software is not possible (which I don't believe),
it's an acceptable risk.  Processors die far far less often than disks,
and disks are getting pretty reliable.

If the software companies can't get it together to reissue software,
then it would certainly be easy to sell processor insurance to people
who wanted it.  This would allow them to replace their ~$10,000 software
library.  (You can buy theft insurance for roughly the same payoffs,
so it's a feasible business.  Theft is harder to verify and in my
judgement occurs much more frequently than processor failure.)

> Note that I am not saying there is a technical problem here.  I do see big
> problems with infrastructure and marketing.  The last time software
> companies tried to market copy protection, it failed in the market place.
> I predict that encyphered instruction streams will too, and for the same
> reasons.

If the old copy protection just worked, it would have been widely accepted.

Old copy protection had many problems.  It didn't stop piracy.  Sometimes
it crashed your machine.  Some schemes worked on some Intel machines but
not on others.  Backups were a problem.  Etcetara.

Peter Hendrickson
ph@netcom.com