New Zealand know-how sold to U.S.

Press, 2 September 1981, Page 23

New Zealand know-how sold to U.S.

! Southern Software. Ltd. an I Auckland-based computer i software company. has | signed a contract with an , American company giving . world distribution rights for h newly developed microcomputer protection system. I For the New Zealand company the export of software for the international market is the second such achieve- ■ ment in the space of only ■ three months. i The purchasing company, i Automated Simulations. Ltd. I of the United States, recently I contracted to buy a sophis- ' ticated computer game for ' world distribution. • The protection routine, deI veloped for the Apple and Commodore micro-com-puters. is expected to fill a gap in the micro-computer security system, since the American-designed routine was successfully decoded last year.

Southern Software's manager (Mr Graham Gleadell) said that the contract was an important achievement for his company and the computer industry. “We were aware of the need for an advanced protection routine and are very pleased that our development has been , selected for the world market." he said. The problem of copying has been an increasing trend in every country as more sophisticated programmes become available to the user. "Unlike record companies, who cannot prevent the physical act of copying from records, computer software vendors can turn to a code system that protects the copy right of a programme bydenying the user access to the computer function that allows copying to take place."

Mr Gleadell said that the popularity of some software programmes for copying had also put a price on routines that decoded a protection system. ’ “Apple's American system was cracked some time ago by a system now being sold on the open market under the name of Locksmith." he said. Mr Gleadell said that although most protection systems could be decoded over a period of time by a highly skilled programme engineer, his company's new system was designed to confuse all but experts in the industry. "And the experts." said Mr Gleadell. "are not in the business of cracking software codes."

The protection routine was designed by Southern Software's machine code specialist. Mr Terry Teague.