Mdb or Mde?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SAC
  • Start date Start date
S

SAC

As an independent contractor I'm wondering if I should give the mdb to my
customers rather than the mde. I've spend a considerable amount of time on
an application that I'm beginning to sell to several customers and I'd be
very disappointed if someone would take the mdb and start competing against
me.

Any thoughts on this?

If I give them only the mde what is the best way of keeping the mdb for
future use...to secure it...multiple copies onto a CD? In a safety deposit
box? Other ideas?

Thanks.
 
CAVEAT: I am not an attorney and none of the following should be construed
to be legal advice.

Unless you have already agreed to a contract, either written or verbal, that
prevents it (see your attorney about this issue if you didn't cover it
clearly in a written contract), delivering a secured MDE will provide you
the most protection.

The security can be broken by anyone who invests a modest amount (as low as
free, depending on the version of Access) in "password recovery" software,
but I am unaware that anyone has created a "discompiler" for MDE files.
Clearly, you cannot regenerate the original source because some of the
information is gone (e.g., nice mnemonic variable names and comments), but
with enough effort someone might be able to generate _some_ source -- it was
done in the past with a "tokenized" source for the VB product.

Even so, what is to keep the clients from passing on the MDE to someone
else? They just would have a lot of work to enhance it. Maybe that is
something you need to cover in your contract / license agreement discussions
with your attorney, as well.

And, you should bear in mind that an experienced Access developer can
recreate most databases far more quickly than they were originally done,
after just seeing them execute.

You say you are going to "sell" your database, but sell implies a transfer
of ownership. Most software is "licensed", giving the licensee specific
rights, but not transferring ownership.

All things considered, I think you'd better talk with your attorney before
you proceed much farther along this path.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
SAC said:
If I give them only the mde what is the best way of keeping the mdb for
future use...to secure it...multiple copies onto a CD? In a safety deposit
box? Other ideas?
Click to expand...

I backup everything to a CD every few days. Every week or so the CDs
go into my safety deposit box. One reason is for secure offsite
storage. Another reason is if anyone ever claims copyright theft I
can point to each CD showing how the program was built a chunk at a
time. Although I've never discussed this with a lawyer.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
 
Thanks. I appreciate the input very much.

Tony Toews said:
I backup everything to a CD every few days. Every week or so the CDs
go into my safety deposit box. One reason is for secure offsite
storage. Another reason is if anyone ever claims copyright theft I
can point to each CD showing how the program was built a chunk at a
time. Although I've never discussed this with a lawyer.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. I sure appreciate your input.


Larry Linson said:
CAVEAT: I am not an attorney and none of the following should be construed
to be legal advice.

Unless you have already agreed to a contract, either written or verbal, that
prevents it (see your attorney about this issue if you didn't cover it
clearly in a written contract), delivering a secured MDE will provide you
the most protection.

The security can be broken by anyone who invests a modest amount (as low as
free, depending on the version of Access) in "password recovery" software,
but I am unaware that anyone has created a "discompiler" for MDE files.
Clearly, you cannot regenerate the original source because some of the
information is gone (e.g., nice mnemonic variable names and comments), but
with enough effort someone might be able to generate _some_ source -- it was
done in the past with a "tokenized" source for the VB product.

Even so, what is to keep the clients from passing on the MDE to someone
else? They just would have a lot of work to enhance it. Maybe that is
something you need to cover in your contract / license agreement discussions
with your attorney, as well.

And, you should bear in mind that an experienced Access developer can
recreate most databases far more quickly than they were originally done,
after just seeing them execute.

You say you are going to "sell" your database, but sell implies a transfer
of ownership. Most software is "licensed", giving the licensee specific
rights, but not transferring ownership.

All things considered, I think you'd better talk with your attorney before
you proceed much farther along this path.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
Click to expand...
 
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