I'm the group hacker in the game I play in. It's the first Shadowrun game I've played in, and I've only been at it a month or two. It looks like the group we play in is moving towards using the Program Options from Unwired, so now I need to take a closer look at dealing with legal/illegal software, and all the degrading rank issues on programs.

Anyways:

All software purchased legally is registered (and copy protected, pluss maybe Limitations). Registered means it auto-patches and doesn't degrade, but it also makes it easier to track me for each bit of registered software I use while hacking. This effectively means I'd be stupid to run ANY registered software while on a run.

Cracked software (either cracked by me, or purchased at 10% the normal cost after locating a pirate network) doesn't auto-patch but isn't registered either. Hacker programs degrade at 1/month, while Common programs and 1/two months. Finding a network of cracked software takes an extended check meassured in days. If I download cracked software I will also have to check it for bugs, viruses, etc. Cracking software myself takes an extended check meassured in hours. Downloading the cracked patch of a program costs 10% the diffrence in price between the software and degraded version I currently have, and once again I have to check it for viruses and what not.

Open source software (from the optional sidebar) costs 50% of the value, has no copy protection or registration, degrades like normal, but comes with the Source Code. It may be capped at rank 4 or so.

Programing a program myself still suffers from degridation. It takes MONTHS to make a program. Patching a program myself takes WEEKS.

Ok, so the major issue here is how to simply maintian the software I have without having to pay 10% of my hacking software costs every month, and 10% of the rest of it every 2 months to some hacker group?

The answer as I see it is to buy all my software from a legal retailer using a SIN set aside fror such things. Store these registered copy protected programs (along with any other options I want) on a nice safe machine somewhere and let them auto-patch as needed. Once a month I come through and Crack each of their new versions, removing the registration and copy protection of the course of a few hours each. I figure a week+ of game time each month will cover this. I then have a complete set of non-degraded software each month, but I had to pay full price for it at least once, I have to maintain a stable of copy protected software tied to a (fake) SIN, and I have to spend hours each month cracking most of it.

This means that if I want to be able to run more then one Agent or IC on the same node (other then my own Persona) then I have to "stable" and Crack a bunch of them as well... or I will have to spend a Week or more every 2 months or so making new Software ID codes for each of my Agents and IC as it is an extended test measured in WEEKS to chance the ID on Agents and IC. In other words I will need to buy a seperate Agent or IC for every possible combo of the little buggers I might want to run at the same time in order to keep seperate IDs for each of them.

Does that sound about right or am I missing an easier way to handle all this?

you have to crack the copy protection on the original to copy it. once you crack that copy protection, the program no longer updates.

iirc, once you've found a group to get your patches from, you can just continue using that group.

alternately, iirc there is now a ruling out that programs you wrote for yourself don't degrade. i'm not entirely clear that they've established how you determine what you've written yourself, though... so this may or may not be helpful to you (personally, i would just restrict you to programs of a rating equal to your software skill being written by yourself, but that's just my way of handling it).

otherwise, it's easiest to ask if you can just abstract it away and add the costs to your lifestyle.

The reason your own programs don't degrade is that if they did your Edit program would degrade in the time it took you to code your next program. And all combined would degrade faster than you could patch them.

Edit: what I meant was "the reason they changed it such that..."

Also: If you have bought and registered programs, these wouldn't just broadcast their ID, or would they? (maybe the edit and/or command, but i think that is easy to supress). So your enemies have to hack your Persona/Comlink/Node to get them. And even then, if you have bought them from another corporation other the one you are hacking, they wouldn't give out the informations about the connected SIN so easily, now would they?

I mean let's say you using Renraku programs tied to a lvl 3 SIN. And while hacking any small corporation, or maybe even another AAA/or AAA subsidiary, a enemy IC or hacker gets your programm ID... he still has to ask Renraku: "Hey some dude attacked us with programs where we think (but don't know) they are yours... would you please give us all your matrix-programs customer lists so we can look at them?"

Well but a bit paranoia is always good when dealing with the matrix, so... using no bought software is always better.

This is what I thought too at first. That a registered program would simply be a problem if you left one behind (like say an agent) etc. Turns out the mechanics of using registered software is less pleasant if you look at the Registered Software Option in Unwired. While not a problem for those who aren't hacking, it is a massive headache for hackers as it will make every program they have running, including their firewall and os, a hindrance in avoiding traces or covering your tracks.

Maybe I am reading the rules wrong... but how can any PC hacker, beyond character creation, ever keep any decent level programs if you use the Unwired rules?

All their hacking tools degrade at a rate of 1 rating / month... so even if you were to ignore all of the common use programs AND new hacking programs from unwired that is still: Attack, Biofeedback Filter, Black Hammer, Blackout, Data Bomb, Decrypt, Defuse, ECCM, Exploit, Medic, Sniffer, Spoof, Stealth, Track.... 14 different programs from the core book.

Unwired says you have 3 options:
1) Patch the program - Software + Logic... with a 1 week interval. So even if you were patching as you go.. depending what week of the month it is you have 11-13 programs degraded by 1 or more?
2) Find an updated pirate copy from a warez site - (takes about 2 days on average to find one, then buy software and or upgrades at a reduced price with a small risk)
3) Hack the coporate patching nodes (with your degraded software) - not sure where the info on how hard this is to do or not... though I imagine they don't make it easy.

Is there an easier way to go about keeping software up to date that I am not seeing?

Oh, and all this is assuming that you are just talking about the hacking tools. Most hackers probably don't want their common use programs giving their data trail away either... so then you have a whole bunch more programs to deal with.

P.S. I really hate that from a fluff feel it is saying that all hackers are just script kiddies since it is impossible with the intervals of 1-3 months on some actions to code anything yourself.

Welcome to why program degredation sucks.

At least with SR4A (IIRC) a hacker's own coded programs don't degrade.

Personally, programs should degrade at -1 rating per 6 months. Reason: how often does Microsoft Word update? Every 2 freaking years. Or more. Acrobat? Every year. Flash? Every year. Dreamweaver? Every year. IE? Every 2 years or so. FireFox? Every 1 to 2 years.

Name me ONE program that updates every MONTH.

Have a page or reference for that? I'm not seeing that

Just kind of feels like they added these rules in Unwired to make Technomancers better... can't say I like it much.

It easy to fix you by a huge amount of second hand bust-a-move drones mad them up a bit to run rating 4 software autosoft and have them patch and make your programs its RAW legal and cheap in the long term plus you can then sell on these patches form you drone hacker network. Have some spare to run defensive drones keep IC patched and you can protect you horde of toys making illegal programs or you could be evil and set up a bot net on such toy while there are in a store and have your drone army spread out in children's hands. Might take some invest ment but with the drones at 350 a piece and the software as a 10% one time investment its not too big.

Valid by RAW and valid past my GM are not the same thing. There is no way I'd be allowed to have an army of drone programmers coding patches for themselves and my other software. Not even if they all had Fuzy Logic and the Adaptability autosoft to boot would that be allowed. Drones just aren't that smart.

Right now I'm just paying the nearly 3k a month to keep my software updated through illegal patches. 10% the price difference of degradation 1 is very cheap after all, even with the massive amount of software I have.

You mean like Microsoft Windows?

To those who would mention that Windows is an OS and far more complex than other programs, I'd point out that the other programs of today are far more complex than those a mere decade ago.

To be fair, if they wrote Windows intelligently they wouldn't have to.

Then they make a billion patches.

(And Linden Labs wonders why Second Life is so unstable: they're duct-taping poorly written code).

I don't know about you , but my Windows environment, Office Software and even some of my secondary software receives downloads on a Monthly, weekly, and even daily cycle... These programs are constantly being updated as things are fixed, updated or patched... yes, MAJOR updates (as in new totally new revision... Windows 3, Windows 95, Windows 98, Millennium, XP, Vista, etc) occur every 2 or so years, but they are constantly being updated... sometimes to the tune of 6-10 times a month...

This is what I envision when I see the Patch requirements for Software in Unwired... and besides, you can always just work the difference into your monthly upkeep and always have fresh, updated, cracked programs every month... that is the simplest way to do so... pay the 10% cost for each of your programs that you are using and add that into your lifestyle costs...

This may not be what you were looking for but there it is... besides, in the 2070's, maybe software is a lot more volatile, requiring constant updating to the tune of monthly at their very core... seems to be the best way to ensure that people are constantly purchasing your software...

Are those patches worth 1/6th of your program's sheer power?

I bet 95% of them actually don't effect you on a day to day basis.

Not really the point though... the fact that modern programs are constantly updated and patched was...

You are right that it may (or may not) affect integrity of the program, but I would argue that the security patches are pretty darn important to the program integrity... if you do not regularly update your programs and apply their security patches, well, you are just asking to be hacked... happens all the time in fact... which is why the security patches continue to be implemented...

In the era of Shadowrun, I would believe that the program degradation IS BUILT IN to the software for security reasons... if it is registered, you get the updates for free and on a regular schedule (much like today)... if it is a cracked piece of software, well, no more regular updates, you got to go get a cracked update or just purchase a new version of the program in it's entirety... Seems like good business to me...