Article on Tomshardware.com

[jumpy]

To my knowlege I only have 2 games that run Starfart as copy protection: Silent Hunter3 & Sniper Elite (pc) and whilst I have not had any problems with my dvd burner or anything else related to Starforce 'issues' I am not too keen of the intrusive nature (as I understand it) of such a program and its ability to change parts of your system and the way it opereates. Given that most people 'in the know' consider programs which unknowingly change your system function/settings as malicious spyware etc, perhaps (and by that I'm not merely 'suggesting') games manufacturers/publishers ought to take a long look at how they wish to do business in the future if they want to avoid loosing their trade, due to pissing people off with these pre-emptory 'strikes' against the possibility that a few ppl might try to copy their product. Counter productive in the long term.
I noticed that the box cover of Sniper Elite does not tell you that Starforce is included- neither does the games 'readme' file. If I had had some of the trouble others have shown, I would have been greatful to know this was on the disk- thereby avoiding the useless purchase of a game which is unplayable or damages my system for the sake of securing a few more beertokens for the multi-billion dollar games industry.
I dare say a cigarette packet style 'warning' would not go down too well for sales figures:
WARNING! THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS STARFORCE COPY-PROTECTION SOFTWARE WHICH CAN DAMAGE YOUR HARDWARE AND CAUSE SYSTEM INSTABILITY.
or how about:
STARFORCE CAUSES CTD, DON'T MAKE OTHERS EXPERIENCE YOUR FRUSTRATION.