Quote:
Originally Posted by Sil_liS
When did they start to implement copy protection?
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Copy protection in computers has gone in and out of vogue during it's history. (And yes, they've been around long enough to have a history.)
The very earliest software had not copy protection (circa 1975). The hardware was so flaky that anything that couldn't be back up 3 or 4 times you might lose.
But with piracy of software, the first wave of copy protection came into existence to prevent the copying of floppy disks. This started around 1977, and became prevalent, particularly for games. Some big packages were copy-protected, some weren't (Visicalc was, DBase II wasn't, for example).
This was not popular with users and people started cracking the copy protection. Many complaints were made by users and they also started buying non-copy protected software instead of copy-protected software. Around the mid 1980's, hard drives started to become available. People wanted to load their software onto thier hard drive and forget about it, instead of always having to stick a floppy disk in to use the software. This caused a trend away from copy protection. By the early 1990's copy protect was at a low ebb.
At that time, software was being bundled with the computer, installed on the hard drive, with a CD copy (for larger capacity) added for restoring should you lose the hard drive. Please note, circa 1991, CD burners were $2000, blanks were $20 each and communication webs were at 1200-2400 baud (ultra slow). The software producers felt that piracy of the unencrypted software would be limited due to technical limitations.
However, as prices dropped for CD writing, and speeds kept increasing for communication, copy protection came back. And it kept getting more and more intrusive. Of course, just like the late 1980's, non-copy protect alternatives popped up, but they don't have the heavy marketing of software nowadays. (Think Linux, Open Office, ect.)
The old non-protected software from the late 1980's and early 1990's will still work, if you can run an operating system they can use. That's why you see things like Dosbox and virtual machines. (Most of it was 16 bit, which Microsoft has been trying to kill with their 64 bit operating systems...)
Today is a high water mark for copy protection, but it looks to be receding again. Shrug. Only the Shadow knows...