I\'ve written a small utility that I wish to sell for less than $10. My primary

Question

I've written a small utility that I wish to sell for less than $10.

My primary concern is "casual piracy". The scenario that plays out in my mind is this:

User buys the program, enjoys using it and tells their friends. The friends copy the application to their USB drives and take it home - using the application for free (maybe never realizing they should have purchased it.

Since I've got absolutely no protection built in, it would just be a simple copy'n paste to pirate the app. The users who would be using the app are in close proximity to each other (work in the same environment), so casual piracy would likely occur frequently.

Any ideas? Keeping in mind the app is cheap (partly to reduce casual piracy), and the level of effort to write the app hasn't been very demanding.

Update: the app will run on any system that supports .NET 3.5.

Explanation / Answer

As others have said, your best bet is to trust and respect your paying customers.

Consider pirated copies as adverising Unless your potential market is limited and you think your penetration will be very high, it's likely that even some of those who don't pay you will end up recommending your app to others who might.

Make buying your app easy and painless. Either make sure you sell through a reputable vendor, or if you sell/release it yourself make sure that they can pay with (something like)PayPal during the download or registration process. Many would never give you their credit card info.

Spend most of your time improving the app. As someone said, make your customers want to pay for your software. You'll enjoy it more, and ultimately probably do more for your success.

NOTE: I'm one of the few people I've ever met who bought licenses for WinZIP, mostly because it was so far ahead of any competition. But I only tried it based on a recommendation of an admin who never bought his license.

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