> I must say, this copy protection mechanism seems a bit… simplistic? A hardware dongle that just passes back a constant number? Defeatable with a four-byte patch?
Nowadays we don't bother with copyright protection other than a license key, because we know enterprises generally will pay their bills if you put up any indication at all that a bill is required to be paid.
I mean, we used to turn single-sided 5 1/4" disks for the C64 into double-sided disks through the use of cutting-edge technology. Literally. I was fancy and got a $5 hole punch built for the job, but scissors worked too. Fast Hack'em may still be my favorite piece of software ever.
Nowadays we don't bother with copyright protection other than a license key, because we know enterprises generally will pay their bills if you put up any indication at all that a bill is required to be paid.
This was basically the 80s version of that.