Petition: John Tiller - Remove DRM Kharkov 43

[Ricky B]

Heart attacks, strokes, accidents are sad, but they are quite common. God forbid that anything like that happen to Mr. Tiller anytime soon, but it happens to us all, some sooner, some later. I'm just being realistic.

Of course you are right - best not invest that $40 in something as risky a venture as this.

Invest it in a game of golf this summer, or maybe a movie for two, some pop corn and maybe a hamburger and a beer. Much better long term value. And no risk. I know I've never seen a movie I didn't like.

To state on here that this *is a risky venture is not at all reassuring for customers. And if being sarcastic you are doing a disservice to customers by invalidating their concerns.

Assault, if you feel that Glenn's comments (obviously sarcastic, not sure why you felt the need to treat it as his real thoughts, you knew what he was saying) are a very valid way of putting your and other's concerns into his perspective. He didn't invalidate them in any way, you have concerns, they are valid and Glenn didn't say they aren't - I have my concerns about the games in general, which is when Microsoft puts up 2 more operating systems and my current PC dies, will the PzC games run on the latest without updates at all, thus killing the program in at least as likely a scenario as if JTS (the software company) has gone into a very unlikely bankruptcy.

So pick your poison, everyone has concerns at some level, and each person has, as Glenn has stated, the opportunity to vote with his wallet re these concerns and what that person considers the likelihood of them occuring, or as Glenn put into perspective, also the cost of something bad happening.

As I stated above, I figure I have 30 years of gaming left in me - by the time I am 80 I may not be able to run computers any longer, or maybe figure I will have grown up anyway :). By that time, I am 95% sure that without updates, the current HPS PzC games will not run on the computers of that time, and that my current PC will be dead. Same goes for my other software. So whether it carries me through another 10 years of playing PzC games that I bought, or 20 or miraculously through the next 30, I will take what I got but knowing that sooner or later the games won't be working for me for whatever reason.

As to those that raised a concern with a JTS (the company) bankruptcy, give that some real thought. Although possible, how likely is it? The company has got to have fairly low overhead - a server, high speed internet connection, or more likely a colocated server at a facility with tons of open bandwidth, etc. As I assume John Tiller created his store himself, I would guess their is no ongoing cost to maintain the store. So what ongoing costs does he have that could drive his company into bankruptcy? I doubt there is a loan for all this - possible but if so it would be small, so I discount this completely. He has whatever method of getting his server on the internet, I would guess an colocate facility which is the most expensive. He might be paying $500 per month for that, I have a work server colocated for a tenth that but our bandwidth needs run quite a bit less than JTS, I am sure - but that should still provide a huge pipe and actualy bytes transferred in games downloaded. I can't think of any other costs. I don't know that JTS has any actual employees outside of JT himself, Glenn would know but my guess is Glenn and others are contractors so there is minimal risk of back payroll taxes sinking the company if this is it for corporate obligations. So while this might be a concern, the liklihood of a bankruptcy is almost vanishingly small in my mind. And as the developer and owner of the software, that means that JTS would almost definitely be able to carry out the promise of unlocking the DD games.

Rick