Date: 10-30-87 (22:12) Number: 9895
To: ALL Refer#: NONE
From: MICHAEL CHARNESS Read: (N/A)
Subj: COPY2PC OPTION BOARD Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE

From the "I Thought They Couldn't Be Bought" file:

For you users of the COPYIIPC OPTION BOARD, I just found out some
disheartening news. I have a legit copy of ALACRITY, a $2000 financial
software package that works with FRAMEWORK (Ashton-Tate) from a
company in Canada. Hating copy protection, if I couldn't create a
unprotected copy, I AT LEAST wanted to be able to make a back up of
the key disk. But my OPTION BOARD kept either hanging up or dumping
out during disk write on a certain track, under any setting. Calling
CP Software resulted in them telling me it's probably my 386, use it
on an AT. Tried it on an AT Clone (CSS Labs), same result. Another
call, "it's probably the controller card on your AT is not producing
tight enough signal, even if it's within spec. If you use it on a
REAL IBM XT you'll be fine." OK, open cases and swap boards around
on an IBM XT, no luck, same error. Another (toll) call, "You're using
software version 4.2? You have the silver dot on the diskette label?
That's the best we've got, we'll get back to you." Yeah, sure.

One of my "inside" contacts has done some contract work for Central
Point Software up in Oregon. He provided me an OLDER version of the
Option Board software, and told me he'd bet money it'd work, since
I knew the protection scheme was Superlok 3.0. "OLDER?" "Trust me!"

He was right. The word is that the owner of Central Point made an
agreement with the SoftGard/Superlok president that the Option Board
software schemes he wrote and kept updated would work on AN ORIGINAL
but not back up A COPY. Some "clever" (?) software publishers
are thwarting Option Board owners by shipping ORIGINALS that are
really ONCE-REMOVED OPTION BOARD COPIES. That stinks! Therefor,
the "pre-agreement" versions of the option board software will still
work, when the latest version doesn't. If you've got version 3.2 or
2.7, hold on to it.
....Michael C.

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