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   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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