I know that this thread is almost a year old and I don't especially want to open what is obviously a very sore subject <g>. But I was searching for a way to protect a UDF that validates unlock codes and I came across this long thread. I couldn't help but respond to this:

>No one is forcing you to buy the product. The problem is the 'them',
>not the makers of Refox. That's been my point. It's kind of like
>calling people who make steel bars for prisons extortioners. No,
>they just make a product to protect someone from a 'bad guy'.

Several people seem to have tried repeatedly to make a point which you don't seem to have ever acknowledged. Xitech effectively makes TWO products. One is a utility that will hack your code. The other is a utility that promises to let you protect yourself from people who use their first utility (except that it doesn't).

I have a lot of respect for you, Doug, but to say that Xitech is merely providing "a product to protect someone from a 'bad guy'" is really naive. They are knowingly supplying arms to both sides of the battle and their business relies on ratcheting the stakes and ensuring that nobody ever wins.

If their utility was truly as hack-proof as they claim, then that would be one thing. But as has been demonstrated several times, it is far from it. So with every release of Refox they effectively say, "You know that utility which you bought from us to protect you from people who use that other product that we make? Well, shucks, it turns out that it doesn't. You should really buy this upgrade."

Several people have reported that Xitech has refused to even respond to their e-mails claiming that they found a way to crack Refox's branding. The "to post or not post" thread, for instance, was a validation of Xitech's apparent business strategy. It is to their ultimate benefit when the advantage regularly swings back and forth between hackers and those trying to stop the hackers - because they sell the tools to both sides!

I have bought several versions of Refox over the years because, like others, I felt that I had no choice if I wanted to protect myself from people who use Refox. "Extortion" seems like the right word to me.

-Bob