Do fabricators make "Real" or "Fake" things?

[Arkathan]

Don't forget printing the codes on colored paper with faint contrast to make it difficult to photocopy.

Or using the entire game manual (remember those?) That referenced a page, paragraph and sentence where you had to enter the next word. Kind of like madlibs for copyright protection.

Those pirate disks that broke the copy protection of a copy were my friend so many times over, even though I owned the games.

 

[AndrewW]

The original Elite (forerunner to Elite Dangerous)... hold a prismatic piece of plastic up to the screen to get a code... or if you played enough, spam the codes that statistically show up enough that you remember them and hope for a match.
Or the Pool of Radiance, A fake three factor dial that really only depended on one variable, so you could make a simple table comparing one rune to the passcode.

A number of games used a doc check, find which word on whatever page. Not really too hard to create a quick reference for.

 

[Arkathan]

A number of games used a doc check, find which word on whatever page. Not really too hard to create a quick reference for.

Highlighters and dog-eared corners FTW.
Because I would lose my cheat sheet among all the other cheat sheets.

 

[AndrewW]

Highlighters and dog-eared corners FTW.
Because I would lose my cheat sheet among all the other cheat sheets.

Something like Unlock Gamemaster was handy.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Or using the entire game manual (remember those?) That referenced a page, paragraph and sentence where you had to enter the next word. Kind of like madlibs for copyright protection.

Wasteland came with a book of numbered vignettes and directed you to read certain ones at certain points. I don't recall that you had to type anything in from it, but it sort of copy protected the story, and saved limited disk space into the deal. (To discourage looking for spoilers, a fair number of vignettes were misleading and/or hilariously bogus - in one, an NPC almost shoots you, then tells you it's not safe to go snooping. Then there's an entire fake storyline about an alien invasion...)

 

[shirgall]

I printed a a full set of parts for the Ship of Theseus and then assembled the real thing.

 

[AndrewW]

Wasteland came with a book of numbered vignettes and directed you to read certain ones at certain points. I don't recall that you had to type anything in from it, but it sort of copy protected the story, and saved limited disk space into the deal. (To discourage looking for spoilers, a fair number of vignettes were misleading and/or hilariously bogus - in one, an NPC almost shoots you, then tells you it's not safe to go snooping. Then there's an entire fake storyline about an alien invasion...)

Pool of Radiance did that as well with the Adventures Journal you could look up bits when told to.

Journal Entries
These entries include items which the adventures might copy or file in their journal as they travel. During the game these entries are referred to by number. When the game refers to a journal entry read the specifidc entry and place a checkmark in the margin to keep track of which entries have come up in the game. Do not read ahead to other journal entries; some entries are false and may lead your adventures astray.

The sequels (Curse of the Azure Bonds and Secret of the Silver Blades) also included an Adventures Journal.

 

[Condottiere]

You could have one use templates.

Like jump tapes.

 

[MasterGwydion]

You could have one use templates.

Like jump tapes.

How many single-use computer programs are used in everyday life? Not files. The whole program. Go through the expense of installing this new software, which in the Traveller Universe, is nearly impossible. (Traveller made data storage unlimited but for some reason copying data almost impossible.) Build one item, and now your expensive Fabricator is now useless again. Can you imagine having to go to the store to buy a new copy of Excel because you want to make one more spreadsheet? Also, after purchase you need to wait for a company authorized technician to install it in your Fabricator, as anyone else installing it is a breach of contract and will void your purchase.

It would make more sense that you can get an unlimited template for everything used by the SPA for a nominal fee. This is how the SPA keeps standardization across the 3I.

 

[J. L. Brown]

How many single-use computer programs are used in everyday life? Not files. The whole program. Go through the expense of installing this new software, which in the Traveller Universe, is nearly impossible. (Traveller made data storage unlimited but for some reason copying data almost impossible.) Build one item, and now your expensive Fabricator is now useless again. Can you imagine having to go to the store to buy a new copy of Excel because you want to make one more spreadsheet? Also, after purchase you need to wait for a company authorized technician to install it in your Fabricator, as anyone else installing it is a breach of contract and will void your purchase.

It would make more sense that you can get an unlimited template for everything used by the SPA for a nominal fee. This is how the SPA keeps standardization across the 3I.

Jump tapes are one-use, but they are NOT the entire 'Jump Control' program. They are one pre-computed solution, exactly what a skilled astrogator and a Jump Control Generate program would work out if they had the luxury of spending a week on that one particular jump. Also, using a jump-tape (or installing an entire new Jump-Control X program) does NOT take a 'factory authorized technician' nor does installing one 'void your warranty' -- these things are literally exactly analogous to plugging a video-game cartridge into a gaming console. Both the program and the jump-tape are very similar to an 'Application Specific Integrated Circuit' (ASIC), doing what they do with dedicated hardware; it makes them very good at what they do, but very limited in scope.

 

[Terry Mixon]

How many single-use computer programs are used in everyday life? Not files. The whole program. Go through the expense of installing this new software, which in the Traveller Universe, is nearly impossible. (Traveller made data storage unlimited but for some reason copying data almost impossible.) Build one item, and now your expensive Fabricator is now useless again. Can you imagine having to go to the store to buy a new copy of Excel because you want to make one more spreadsheet? Also, after purchase you need to wait for a company authorized technician to install it in your Fabricator, as anyone else installing it is a breach of contract and will void your purchase.

It would make more sense that you can get an unlimited template for everything used by the SPA for a nominal fee. This is how the SPA keeps standardization across the 3I.

Data wafers are common and cheap. Those are what the templates are stored on. And I confirmed with Geir that cheap, larger capacity data wafers for large patterns are easily doable.

 

[Condottiere]

Optionally, annual tiered subscription model, allowing varying access to libraries of increasingly sophisticated designs.

 

[Geir]

And the 'free for personal use' downloads. Beware the template for the PleesureBot (sic).

 

[Condottiere]

Some companies deliberately corrupt unauthorized software.

I would be careful where I would plug in that universal serial bus stick.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Never trust a back door...
into a computer system.

 

[Limpin Legin]

Never trust a back door...
into a computer system.

Although, to be fair, a computerised open system is more vulnerable than a closed system.

With an open system, the system is made available to third party programmers to add their tools/programs to the system libraries.
In order to provision that, the system developer must provide programming hooks that 3rd party can use. The upshoot of that is these hooks can be used improperly, leading to security vulnerabilities.

With a closed system no such hooks are provided, as system and associated programs are all developed in-house, by the same developer. I imagine a fabricator system would be such a closed system, as it is only provisioning the use of 3rd party templates, not modifiable computer programs.

 

[Galadrion]

And the 'free for personal use' downloads. Beware the template for the PleesureBot (sic).

That's pretty sick, all right.