I'm not going to tell too much about the reason why I'm creating this poll, in order not to influence opinions. Just a little background info:
a developer of an audio software company (none of the very big ones) recently told me (analogously, to make it short) that they got proof of Teams installing malware (without being specific). I asked him if they ever thought about the idea to publish this with details. Short answer: no they don't do this.
I started to wonder and researched this a bit. Apparently it's the general practice not to expose bad cracks. So far I couldn't find a single example for a developer that would've said "Hey folks look, Team ACAB installs spyware, a keylogger and a cryptominer on your system, we're attaching proof of it". Nobody's doing this. And seemingly the main reason is that developers are afraid that doing it would have negative effect for themselves.

So I'm asking you guys what you're thinking about this.
Please vote really just from a developer's perspective. I thought about adding "FROM END USER'S VIEW" but it's related to each other anyway, whether you're using cracked software or not.

It's a poll but it would be generally interesting to hear opinions.

 

<reserved for possible future use>

 

I don't imagine any company would want to tell their user base that there's another way to get their software for free, let alone point them towards the whole cracking scene, lest they then search for cracks that aren't malware. Then there's the legal side of it, I think they prefer to keep this whole subject at arm's length - and they certainly don't want to incur the wrath of the team they expose as they may come under direct attack from them.

 

This.

Additionally, I could well imagine that a developer wouldn't really be sad if someone installs malware in an attempt to use his software for free.

 

But i know at least ONE dev using malware to protect his software (and even LEGIT users experimented it) :
Tone2

I know it ... it happened on my computer. And stopped using any Tone2 product.

Some reading :
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=314162&start=30

@DrumcodeX already know it
https://audiosex.pro/threads/best-nfo’s-of-all-time.69449/#post-693342

 

Fruityloops held everyone's projects hostage once by encrypting and zipping the cracked version users .flp files. Around version 3. Awful move that felt punitive and petty. I think their legal team shat themselves when they realised the full implications and the feature was quietly removed. Odd move from one of the more decent companies.

 

When the company is small like that (as they were back in the day) sometimes the CEOs get to do any irrational thing they want without anyone stopping them. Probably was the decision of some very petty higher-up.

 

Nothing to gain for a developer to do this, in my opinion.

The only potential upside would be for someone to be "scared straight" by a bad crack, and to be persuaded to go legit, but I think that seldom happens.

Barring some heavy legal and/or financial penalty, anyone invested in piracy is very likely going to stay invested in piracy. A developer making public statements about such things would be met with a bunch of "how dare you!?" self-rightousness by people that think they are owed free software by evil corporations, and the like.

 

Oh, I followed that discussion lol. Yeah, the thing is I don't think devs had even actually tried the cracks themselves, my guess is that they simply have no idea of what they're talking about so they hide behind the "I can't make this public". I'm saying this mostly based on the cracks I have used of this company in the past, they were all 100% safe afaik.

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2023

REALLY? Damn, I almost knew this would happen

Very interesting contribution, thanks for bringing that point of view up

EDIT: I was acting there how I was acting because I tried to tickle out some concrete info. Unfortunately nobody did bite, instead it ended up with the usual blabla lol.

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2023

I haven't had any problems with cracked sophtwhere, many problems with money.

 

developer should focus on delivering amazing product,
shady folks being infected with malware is beyond their scope, and they should not take responsibility and effort of hunting cracks,
as long as developer provides proper way to try their products legally for free, and purchase full version at reasonable terms, that's all they need

 

Tone2 is even more fishy than that.

They created some nasty "psycho acoustic" tricks.
They integrated them in ALL synths and effects ... so much they created a separate plugin for it : AkustiX

And they NEVER told ppl they were using psycho acoustic tricks, until ppl like me told users.
Because i was hearing an obvious "phasy" sound, and confirmed by stereo analysis tools.
And other users too.

After that, they updated their plugins and documentations to include an "off" switch (like Electra 2).
But it still there even "off" ! (at lower level)

Basically, Tone2 synths (before Nemesis 2 and Saurus 2) are just average synths with massive psycho acoustic tricks.

It sounds good ALONE
Transients are mashed up
Bass is full of phase troubles
...
Usual signs of "aural exciters" and such

When mixed, those frequencies will just ... disappear in a big mess.
It is like adding sugar, salt ... but so much you kill taste itself.

 

I have seen software companies do this before. Maybe, Adobe? Where pirated copies of something are announced as malware,etc. They do not make a big deal about it though. They may say where it is circulating, like "Pirate Bay". I actually think there was a news blurb about Logic and Garageband sorta recently also.

I don't think it would make any difference. Most of their incentive to do this would be for the purpose of selling more legit copies of something. So people who use pirated stuff would see that as a reason "to lie" and cook up some conspiracy theories. It wouldn't stop them. They also have an incentive to let infections like that happen so next time they will buy a legit product after seeing the *major* risks involved in using pirated stuff.

If the company was one with some security products, they could maybe drum up some business for that software by doing this. If there was any "great reason" for this to be done, it would have been done 25 years ago. Nevermind that some people would even twist it around to where companies are supposed to add some level of protection by monitoring the internet for "dangerous versions" of their products. For Free.

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2023

if a developer is caring about the cracked version of his software that has malware he needs to shoot him self in the foot

 

yeah i was thinking the same like aint no way man lol

 

I'm not surprised that a dev is bad at pirating things

 

So I've always had a set of rules I kinda go by .. if I make money with it I eventually buy it .. just paid off serum yesterday actually.. I think every software company needs a pay to play and eventually own option.. I think that would make each company that offered this so much money.. I don't believe for a second that R2R or V.R or any of the bigger teams ever put anything malicious in their releases... they are pretty much gods among us poor producers .. what would be the purpose? We already don't have money for plugins let alone anything worth taking lol... not trying to speak for everyone.. just my 2 cents