The Prolok Saga (Was: Applesauce FDC

[Fred Cisin]

>> Vault Corporation produced "Prolok" with a physical defect.  To make it

On Tue, 2 Nov 2021, Ali wrote:
> Which could be defeated w/ the Copy II Plus Enhanced Option board:
> http://retro.icequake.net/dob/img/eob/

There were many ways around it.

Because Vault didn't write a new software package for each client, it was 
fairly easy, after some [not always easy] disassembly to make a patch that 
cracked it.  Those patches were widely distributed, and the end user only 
knew that it was a small patch.


I find it important to note that the Vault VS Quaid lawsuit was before 
DMCA.  Afterwards, Vault might have prevailed!  At the time, disassembly 
and bypassing copy-protection was not illegaal.
But, Vault tried to claim that Quaid's software infringed on Vault's 
copyright!  The courts ruled that Quaid's software was in no way a copy of 
Vault's.  There was no sftware by Vault included inside the Quaid 
software.

The announcement of Prolok-PLUS was insane, and destroyed Vault.


There were many other protection schemes.

Early on, I noticed that the software with the Central Point Option 
Board could not work if it didn't see the index hole.  As a proof of 
concept, I showed that one could write a disk disk without an index hole 
(indexing on spindle, or covering the hole (moving cookie to a flipped 
jacket)) that couldn't be copied by the Option Board, but could be copied 
by DISKCOPY.