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-- Warez education (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=8345)

While I totally agree with the philosophy & practice of the board and moderators thus far with regards to this subject, I think it would be beneficial to educate those of us who have no clue what warez is as to what it is and how to steer clear. How do you know if something is really freeware or if its illegal? Also, maybe if any of the legal types out there could educate us on the possible consequenses of software pirating, it would serve as a good reminder. I think that just closing the thread is like when your parents changed the subject when you tried to talk about sex as a teen...sometimes it just made you more curious.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice...

Many PalmOS applications use registration codes that you enter after you have paid for the product. Warez are pirated software that either "cracks" that make the program registered, or are key generators that give you unauthorized registration codes.

Warez costs developers many hours in trying to come up with ways to prevent cracks from happening. Sometimes developers have to come up with a new registration code scheme, frustrating normal users because they have to get a new code.

Warez are dangerous as they don't come from the original developer and could contain viruses that destroy your data. The recent Liberty Trojan was an attempt by a developer to scare off warez users. It pretended to be a crack that allowed someone to have a full version of the Liberty GameBoy emulator but in fact deleted all 3rd-party applications (not data) from the handheld.

Most PalmOS applications are either freeware or shareware that doesn't cost very much. Most applications will tell you what it is by looking at the About screen. For the benefits of those that don't know, here are some basic definitions:

• Freeware - no cost for the software.
  
• Shareware - also try-before-you-buy, this allows the user to play with the software and find out if it's useful. If the user plans to continue using the application, they should pay the developer a specified fee. This supports future updates to the software. There are some applications that disable certain features ("crippleware") or remind you to register ("nagware"). These are still considered shareware and must eventually be registered.
  
• Retail - software that you can buy at your local computer store or online that generally comes in a box with better documentation. This software tends to cost more than shareware

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James Hromadka
Old Friend