[wp-hackers] Premium plugin protection

Sun Dec 12 01:13:11 UTC 2010

I see what you mean. Absolutely. 

Just so you know, my intention here is not solely about profit. Although I need to make a living I am also very keen to do the 'right thing'. And that means not only by the user but also by people exactly like you! It would suck to make a lot of money but be frowned upon by the community. 

 You're right that the focus should be on a kickass plugin and not how to keep people out of it. As you say, locks are there to be picked! 

So it seems like the consensus so far is that charging for a service or invested development (premium themes etc) is ok but obfuscating or preventing access to code (or similar preventative measures) really goes against the 'ethos' of wordpress. Would you agree? 

Sent from my iPhone

On 12 Dec 2010, at 00:55, Vid Luther <vid at zippykid.com> wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> I'm going to agree with Michael here, if you're looking at having remote
> code execution or obfuscation you're focusing on the wrong thing...
> 
> Focus on building a kickass plugin that people will want to use, and be
> upfront about your costs. See how backupbuddy, gravity, and some others
> are doing it. They seem to be running a fairly nice business out of it.
> 
> Also look at all the premium themes out there, they seem to be doing
> well too.
> 
> Another tactic to dissuade you from going down the license enforcement
> thing.....think of your licensing scheme, and specifically your remote
> code hosting stuff, your expenses and liability grow through the
> roof..if your server goes down, other sites go down.. or lose that
> functionality.. enjoy sending refunds...
> 
> Basically, what you're talking about is DRM, and that, I think is
> morally wrong :).
> 
> 
> And one last thing, I used to be very involved in software cracking back
> in the 90s.. involved enough to personally know people who went to jail
> for software piracy... you will never be able to build a lock, I or
> someone else will not be able to pick.
> 
> Locks only keep good people out, you're gonna lose the license/rights
> management thing.
> 
> Focus on a product and service people will want to pay for, there are
> more than enough honest people in the world who will pay you.
> 
> 
> Andy Charrington-Wilden wrote:
>> Ha! JealousPress. Has a ring to it! 
>> 
>> I agree with you. I too am always very open about the fact that wordpress is open source and free. As you say, clients tend to see it as a plus point. Large support community, developers etc etc. 
>> 
>> I think that obfuscation may be a little arrogant of me! I mean it's a bit like assuming people will try to hack it 'because it's so great'! 
>> 
>> I think I will look at storing key code remotely and serving it in to the plugin. Seems more friendly!
>> 
>> The more I think about it the more I agree that selling support seems to be the way forward. 
>> 
>> Thank you!
>> 
>> Andy
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On 12 Dec 2010, at 00:18, Vid Luther <vid at zippykid.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I'm biased, I run a hosting company that only does WordPress hosting, so
>> I don't think there's anything wrong with it :).
>> 
>> People have been bottling water and charging for it for a few centuries
>> (contrary to popular belief that bottled water is something new).
>> 
>> The people who are paying you, is because they choose to, as long as you
>> don't cut off people who want to do it for free, you're ethically fine..
>> as long as you don't rename it to JealousPress or something, you should
>> also have no problem sleeping at night.
>> 
>> We offer WordPress hosting, and on top of that some of the stuff we've
>> built around WordPress from a hosting standpoint, we put on github
>> (provisioning stuff)..
>> 
>> Our competitors can use our own code against us, we welcome it.
>> 
>> All our customers know that WordPress is free, we actually use that as a
>> selling point, the number of agencies that tie people into some
>> proprietary crap cms is amazing..
>> 
>> Think of us like the RedHat of WordPress, we have our own stuff, that
>> you can download and use yourself, or you can host with us, and we
>> support our own stuff..
>> 
>> Anyway, this is starting to sound more of a rant.. so.. I'm gonna
>> stop. But, you should not have any trouble sleeping at night :)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Andy Charrington-Wilden wrote:
>>>>> I agree. Selling support is certainly a great way of doing it. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> I had considered having key code on a remote server but wondered if that went against the 'ethos' of wordpress as a community? 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Do you think profiting (or trying to) by utilising the wordpress platform is immoral or wrong in anyway? Not in terms of being paid to develop or design for wordpress. But in the sense that we can build something on top of the platform that we then charge for?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Andy
>>>>> 
>>>>> Jealous Designs
>>>>> Website: jealousdesigns.co.uk
>>>>> Portfolio: jealousdesigns.co.uk/portfolio
>>>>> Phone: 07903030008
>>>>> Twitter: _a_n_d_y
>>>>> Skype: andycharrington 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 11 Dec 2010, at 23:40, Chris Williams <chris at clwill.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Excellent suggestion.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Or make the plugin access your servers for the key essential code, and control that access.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> In short, anything you put on someone else's computer can be stolen.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>>> From: scribu <mail at scribu.net>
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Don't sell code, sell support around the code. Simple as that (or not).
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> wp-hackers mailing list
>>>>>> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
>>>>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> wp-hackers mailing list
>>>>> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
>>>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
> _______________________________________________
> wp-hackers mailing list
> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
>> _______________________________________________
>> wp-hackers mailing list
>> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.16 (Darwin)
> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
> 
> iEYEARECAAYFAk0EHYsACgkQk2/z0szfu9plTQCgjuUrSpdocNkAuQyUtxfU+x6S
> bfYAni+mwfzbSwEx3q05C/aJvDJq2fCb
> =pBp+
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> _______________________________________________
> wp-hackers mailing list
> wp-hackers at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-hackers