Re: Comparison of THC-SCAN v2.0 with Sandstorm PhoneSweep 1.02

[mouse () RODENTS MONTREAL QC CA (der Mouse)]

If Aleph One will print an ad from Sandstorm, I hope he'll print a
minor rant/rebuttal....

> (And our licensing and evaluation policies have so far been
> successful at keeping the product out of the hands of
> "hackers/phreakers.")

How would you know?

> [...]  What follows are the most salient points from that comparison.

Based on who wrote this, I have to cut *some* slack.  But sheesh, this
thing reads like a marketroid's "press release" ad!

> THC-SCAN was developed by The Hacker's Choice, [...]  Support is not
> available.

Excuse me?  I thought it came with source code.  That alone is far
better support than I have ever, *ever*, gotten from *any* binary-only
vendor.  Based on my experience with both vendor support and free
software support, I would also lay long odds that the support available
for THC-SCAN from its developer(s) and users is more available, more
responsive, quite likely more reliable, and most certainly more worth
the cost than whatever may be available from Sandstorm for their
product.  It seems disingenuous at best to claim "support is not
available" merely because no formalized support-for-money system is in
place.

> 3.9 ODBC Support
> [THC-SCAN v2.0...claims ODBC but doesn't do it]
> PhoneSweep 1.02, on the other hand, [does]

Of course, we have only your word for that, since - unlike THC-SCAN -
you don't let us compare your claims against reality.  Given how much
unsubstantiated puffery I've heard from vendors in the past, I trust
you'll forgive me a healthy dose of skepticism here.

> > * full source code!
> Source code for Sandstorm PhoneSweep is restricted to prevent
> unauthorized use.

You're deluding yourself if you think restricting source code will make
a significant difference.  Once an ethics-free individual with a
modicum of skill and inclination sits down with the binary, your
dongles will shortly be pointless - read the Jargon File entry for
"copy protection".  All you've really done is make it impossible for
legitimate users to self-support.

Hmm, you're selling support.  I can't help feeling this is unlikely to
be a coincidence.

Not that it matters to me personally; I'm not in the market for either
product, and if I were I probably would toss together my own 'cause
it'd be quicker do that than porting THC-SCAN, and I'm not about to get
an Intel box just to run a phone scanner on.  But I can't let this ad
go unremarked-upon.

                                        der Mouse

                               mouse () rodents montreal qc ca
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