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To: grok who wrote (71944)	1/24/1999 11:02:00 PM
From: d[-_-]b	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

RE: there are many possible uses of the serial number and up toward the top of the list would be copy protection of software. That was my first thought, since I'm very familiar with license administration based on Flexlm from Globetrotter, which of course uses the hostid of the server to determine if the license is valid. As for the hook speculation...no clue. As for requiring it to download something, not for a while if ever. Copy protection has all but disappeared from the consumer software scene. At the workstation level where software tools cost upwards of $50,000 for a one user license - the requirement is not much of a problem since no one would run such an expensive tool on a "old" computer in the first place. The rest of your post about AMD is more speculation. Unless you have a link? PS: I really doubt anyone would actually modify the binary before download, usually you fill out some online form and they would then email you a key to enable the app. The info you may need to fill out the form....well that would be more speculation.

To: grok who wrote (71944)	1/25/1999 11:06:00 AM
From: dumbmoney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

I think that there are many possible uses of the serial number and up toward the top of the list would be copy protection of software. So if you want the latest 3D game you go to a website, give them your credit card number, and your Pentium III sends them its serial number which gets embedded somewhere in the middle of the executeable that they send you back. That executeable will now only run on your PC. That's pretty straight forward so far. But it gets interesting if you ask what happens if you have an earlier Pentium or even more interesting if you have and K6 or other non-Intel processor. That's easy. The non-PIII users don't suffer the indignities of Intel's newest "feature". Because of KNI there will be at least two versions anyhow (since you were talking games).